7/20/15
by News Department on 07/20/15
Fire officials said a lit cigarette was the cause a fire that claimed the life of a woman who called 911 to report the blaze inside her home in New Castle Township Saturday morning.
61 year old Mildred C. Reedy was pronounced dead inside her home at 321 Chestnut St. at 8:44 a.m. by Schuylkill County Deputy Coroner Joseph Pothering.
According to Saint Clair Assistant fire Chief Thomas Johns, firefighters were called about 6:30 a.m. for a report of a structure fire and found the entire front of the home engulfed in flames.
Johns said the fire started in a front room on the first floor of the house when a cigarette lit bedding on fire.
After the fire started, Johns said Reedy called 911and went into the kitchen of the home, where she collapsed. Pothering said Reedy was found inside the kitchen to the rear of the home.
The cause of the fire has been ruled accidental.
