Cigarette blamed for fatal Huntington blaze

11:00am Thursday 8th January 2009

A blaze which claimed the life of a housebound woman may have been sparked by her own cigarette.

Fire investigation experts are now fairly certain a cigarette started the fire in the living room of the semi-detached house in Whitethorn Close, Huntington.

A 61-year-old woman, who has not formally been identified, but who has been named locally as Lynn, died in the blaze on Monday evening.

Fire and police officers were at the scene of the fire yesterday as they tried to piece together how it started.

However, police have said they do not believe there are any suspicious circumstances surrounding the blaze.

Regional fire investigation officer Trevor Lund said: “We have done a fairly intensive investigation as we had a number of areas we wanted to explore.

“I have not completely finalised my view, but smoking materials are a good percentage of the cause. We have had two or three lines of inquiry, but this is the most probable.”

He said fire investigators have been sifting through the wreckage in a way similar to archaeologists at a dig, working through the layers of debris.

He said certain causes of fires leave patterns in the debris which can be identified, adding the living room, where the fire was concentrated, was very badly damaged and smoke had filled the house.

Meanwhile, by yesterday morning neighbours had left two bunches of flowers outside the front door of the fire-ravaged house. One message read: “RIP Lynn, Love Andy, Helen, Paige, Chloe and Ellie.”

Neighbours of the dead woman did not want to speak about the incident but one, who did not want to be named, said the man and woman who lived there were “a very nice couple”.

Fr Kevin Trehy, of St Paulinus Church, in Monkton Road, Huntington, said the woman had not been part of his congregation, but his thoughts were with her relatives.

He said: “Our sympathy goes out to the family and our prayers to the lady who was so tragically killed, especially at this time of year.”

A spokesman for North Yorkshire police said the identity of the woman may not be released until the end of the week.

He said a post-mortem examination would first have to be carried out which is expected to take place today or tomorrow.

Following that an inquest will be opened and the identity of the woman released.