Woman dies of heart attack suffered during morning blaze
TRENTON » An elderly woman escaped through a second-story window as a fire ripped through her home Thursday morning, only to go into cardiac arrest and die at the hospital, officials said.
The 69-year-old woman jumped about 10 feet to safety and was found by paramedics in the yard next to her fire-consumed home on the 400 block of Reservoir Street, a police spokesman said.
She was transported to Capital Health Regional Medical Center with “great” injuries, Trenton Fire Department Battalion Chief John Barone Jr. said.
Officials confirmed the woman passed away at the hospital a short time later after she suffered a heart attack during the terrifying ordeal.
Officials couldn’t say for certain whether the woman’s heart attack was triggered by the two-alarm inferno. Her name was being withheld by authorities.
Firefighters responded around 10 a.m. to the fire, which quickly spread to two neighboring row homes.
Firefighters controlled the blaze about an hour later, but not before it damaged the woman’s home and at least two others that were left uninhabitable, fire officials said.
No one else was injured in the fire, Trenton Police spokesman Lt. Darren Zappley said.
The Red Cross said 11 people were affected by the fire, six of them displaced while one family was allowed to return home.
Arson detectives were on the scene throughout the day, but Zappley said an intentional fire has been ruled out as the cause, in part because there weren’t any signs of accelerants.
Investigators believe the fire started in an electrical box, then spread through the walls and up to the attic.
Investigators were also exploring other accidental causes, such as an unattended cigarette, Zappley said.
The police spokesman stressed investigators were still combing through the charred debris and nothing has been “confirmed one way or another.”
“A lot of time they have to wait for things to cool down,” the police spokesman said.