Lit Cigarette Near Oxygen Tank Blamed For Plymouth Fire That Sent 5 To Hospital
PLYMOUTH (CBS) – A fire in Plymouth sent five people to the hospital early Saturday morning, including one firefighter and a police officer.
Flames broke out some time around 2:30 a.m. at Pine Hills Village condo complex on Tideview Path.
State Fire Marshal Stephen Coan says the fire started when a lit cigarette ignited the tubing for home medical oxygen in the first floor bedroom.
"It made a big boom sound and now her whole house is like demolished," said 10-year-old Harley Nickerson.
The fire spread quickly to floors above, trapping a few residents. One woman jumped from her 3rd floor balcony and injured her leg.
Jo-Ann Nickerson lives directly above where the fire started and says she had a hard time getting down a short flight of stairs to the front door.
"It [the smoke] was like rushing in. It was that bad. You couldn't see anything. It was totally black," said Nickerson.
Firefighters from Plymouth, Bourne, Kingston and Onset all responded to help battle the fire. The building is close to several others in the complex; the fire could have easily spread.
All five people who were injured were being treated at Jordan Hospital. Their conditions were not immediately available, but their injuries were all said to be minor.
The Red Cross is helping, along with volunteers from local company J Brian Day Emergency Services.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Doug Cope reports
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It's not the holiday weekend they envisioned, but some are just happy to be safe.
"You can't cry about it because it's not going to make it any better so you just have to go with the flow and hope for the best," said Nickerson.
Coan says in the past month there were three fires, two of them deadly, where home oxygen played a role.
WBZ-TV's Bree Sison contributed to this report. You can follow Bree on Twitter @BreeSison.
