EDMONDS — An older woman was found dead Sunday morning after a fire tore through her home.
Fire investigators determined the blaze most likely started from a discarded cigarette.
Neighbors called firefighters to a single-story home in the 19300 block of 84th Avenue W. just before 10 a.m., Snohomish County Fire District 1 spokeswoman Leslie Hynes said. Flames were coming from the home.
Crews quickly extinguished the fire and searched the home. They found the woman, who was in her 70s, inside a bedroom.
Her name wasn’t released Sunday. The Snohomish County Medical Examiner’s Office is expected to conduct an autopsy soon.
A fire investigators ruled the fire accidental, Hynes said.
Sunday afternoon, someone put a bouquet of white daisies and red carnations tied with a black ribbon by the woman’s home.
Neighbors Steve and Karen Fry described her as a friendly neighbor who loved gardening.
“You would always see her outside pulling weeds,” Steve Fry said.
Investigators found no working smoke alarms in the home.
“That might have made a difference,” Hynes said. “Smoke alarms save lives by providing you with the warning you need to safely escape when fire breaks out in your home.”
Working smoke alarms cut the chance of dying in a fire in half, according to the National Fire Protection Association.
Sunday’s death comes just a few weeks after Burnice Manion, 58, died from smoke inhalation inside her bedroom after a fire broke out in her Bothell home. Investigators determined that fire was started by tobacco-smoking materials.
Smoking has been one of the leading causes of fire fatalities in Washington, according to the state Fire Marshal’s Office.
Katya Yefimova: 425-339-3452, kyefimova@heraldnet.com.
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