Smoking cited for 10-story Evansville tower's fire - 13 WTHR Indianapolis

Smoking cited for 10-story Evansville tower's fire

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EVANSVILLE -

Fire investigators in Evansville say smoking materials in a bed caused a smoky blaze that forced the evacuation of a 10-story apartment building for the elderly and the disabled where one person died.

Authorities say 66-year-old Gwendolyn Hunt died in the first-floor apartment where the accidental fire started Sunday evening. Investigators tell the Evansville Courier & Press and WFIE-TV that the fire spread quickly because she was using an oxygen tank.

Fire officials say about a dozen people were taken to a hospital for non-life threatening injuries and the tower's some 180 residents weren't allowed to return to their apartments overnight.

Firefighters used a ladder truck to help rescue some people from balconies, and residents say they encountered smoke inside on the fifth floor.

(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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