Crime & Safety

One of Two Residents Injured in Morning House Fire Dies

Two residents in their 80s were removed from the home and treated at the scene, then sent to the hospital.

One of two elderly people who were critically injured in a house fire in Benicia early this morning has died, a police lieutenant said.

Benicia police Lt. Frank Hartig said the victim died at 7:15 a.m. today at St Francis Memorial Hospital's Bothin Burn Center in San Francisco.

The one-alarm fire was reported at 2:06 a.m. after a newspaper delivery person smelled smoke and saw that it was coming from a house in the 300 block of Larkin Drive, Benicia Fire Chief Jim Lydon said.

Crews arrived to find light smoke showing around the home and forced entry into the residence. "Once inside, we conducted a search and we located two victims down in the back bedroom," Lydon said.

The victims, a man and a woman in their 80s, were removed from the home and treated at the scene, then taken to Kaiser Permanente Vallejo Medical Center before being transferred to St. Francis Memorial Hospital. Hartig would not say whether the resident who died was the man or the woman.

The residents' dog was treated for smoke inhalation at the scene and taken to a veterinary hospital, Lydon said. The fire caused extensive damage to the living room and kitchen areas, and there was heat and smoke damage throughout the home, Lydon said.

Benicia police will assist the fire department in getting the legal documents to enter the home and search for evidence regarding the cause of the blaze, Hartig said. "We don't suspect anything criminal in nature," Hartig said.

Lydon said the home had smoke detectors but it's not clear if they were operational.

The Benicia Fire Department and the Solano County Fire Investigations Unit will investigate the cause of the fire, Hartig said.

Copyright © 2013 by Bay City News, Inc. -- Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.

More from Benicia