OAK HARBOR – A smoldering tobacco pipe probably started an apartment fire that killed a 39-year-old woman in Oak Harbor on Wednesday.
The pipe was found on the floor near a couch where the fire apparently started in the 450-square-foot studio apartment, Oak Harbor Fire Chief Mark Soptich said Thursday.
The body of Jana Ellen Lee was found in the doorway to her bathroom, Soptich said. She died of smoke inhalation, according to the Island County Coroner’s Office.
The cause of the fire doesn’t appear to be suspicious.
“We were very meticulous in how we investigated it, and we just want to make sure we got it right,” Soptich said.
A neighbor in the 300 block of E. Whidbey Avenue called 911 about 6:45 a.m. when he saw smoke coming from Lee’s apartment. He kicked her door down, but couldn’t enter because the heat was too intense.
Smoke had filled the room to within 18 inches from the floor, Soptich said.
Firefighters extinguished the blaze in minutes and spared two apartments with adjoining walls. Nobody else was injured.
The apartment was declared a total loss.
Soptich said investigators might never know exactly how the pipe started the fire.
“It’s tough to say,” he said. “Did it fall, or did she drop it? We just don’t know that.”
Reporter Scott Pesznecker: 425-339-3436 or spesznecker@heraldnet.com.
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