A bedridden 89-year-old Aberdeen woman died after a fire broke out in her basement bedroom, marking Harford County?s second fatal fire so far this year. Five people died in an Abingdon house fire in January.
Edna Dennison was in bed Monday at about 3:23 p.m. when a fire apparently started in her bedroom, a converted laundry room on the bottom floor of a split-level house in the 700 block of Cambridge Avenue, authorities said.
Dennison had suffered a stroke and other ailments that limited her mobility, said Faron Taylor, a spokesman for the Office of the Fire Marshal.
Dennison?s daughter, Lorraine Gray, who owns the house with her husband, Thomas, noticed smoke coming from a vent and ran downstairs to help her mother. Gray was unable to get Dennison out of bed or out of the room and had to flee, Taylor said.
Neighbors outside tried to fight the fire with a garden hose until firefighters arrived at 3:30, said Harford County Fire and EMS spokesman Richard Gardiner.
“The neighbors tried to put the fire out themselves, and were exposed to some minor smoke inhalation,” Gardiner said. One man was taken to Upper Chesapeake Medical Center to be treated, he said.
Firefighters from Aberdeen Volunteer Fire Department, Aberdeen Proving Ground and Susquehanna Hose Co. had the flames under control within 10 minutes, Taylor said, but Dennison had already died of what the medical examiner later ruled was smoke inhalation and burns. The cause of the fire is still under investigation. Damage to the wood-frame, single-family house was estimated at $100,000.
Taylor said there were no working smoke detectors in the living area of the house ? only one in the garage and the mounting plate for a battery-operated one in the living room.
“Have working smoke detectors; have an escape plan,” Taylor said, though the tragedy again illustrated the usefulness of residential fire sprinklers. The house was built in 1960 and therefore would not be subject to a newly passed city ordinance requiring sprinklers in new homes.
“Sometimes, the human condition leaves us incapable of self-preservation,” Taylor said. “Not only do many homes have small children who may be unable to escape on their own, but many also are caregivers for the elderly. Early notice and an escape plan are only good as long as you can use them.”
