Smoking in bed may have led to the blaze that killed a 46-year-old Bayview Houses resident early Monday — just a few days after five people were killed in a deliberately set fire in Bensonhurst.
Police said that the woman, whose name was not released, died inside her fifth-floor apartment at 630 East 102nd Street after a blaze erupted inside her bedroom at 6:17 a.m. on February 1.
The woman’s 25-year-old daughter — alerted by her mother’s screams — raced to help the woman, but the flames were too much to bear, officials said.
Responding firefighters had the fire under control by 6:45 a.m. The fire, luckily, was contained to the fifth floor — the only evidence that a blaze had taken place were the apartment’s charred, blown out windows.
When firefighters searched the apartment, they found the victim in her bed. She apparently died of severe burns and smoke inhalation. No other injuries were reported.
It was later determined that the woman may have fallen asleep with a lit cigarette in her hand, according to the New York Times.
Another possibility was that an electric surge in the bedroom started the fire.
By late Tuesday, FDNY marshals had yet to determine the cause of the blaze. It was still under investigation.
