Elderly woman in hospital after house fire
TAMPA — An elderly woman was found unconscious inside a burning house just after 4 p.m. Thursday, according to Tampa Fire Rescue.
Frances Andrews Baker, 85, was found lying on the bathroom floor in her home at 1915 E. 18th Ave. by Fire Rescue officials after both a neighbor and a patrolling police officer were unable to find her in the smoky house, said Lt. C. A. Sawicki of the Tampa Police Department.
Officer Kenneth Fender, of Tampa Police, was the first person at her home at 1915 E. 18th Ave. He came in through a back door, and the smoke in the kitchen was so heavy he had to crawl into the living room, Sawicki said.
He explained that when Fender didn’t find her in the living room he left the house because the smoke became too much. A neighbor kicked in the front door but the smoke prevented him from entering the house as well.
It wasn’t until Tampa Fire Rescue arrived that they were able to pull Baker from the house and administer CPR. She was taken to Tampa General Hospital in critical condition suffering from severe smoke inhalation, according to a release from fire rescue.
According to Fire Marshal Investigators, the fire was started by an electrical failure of a portable radio on the stove top. The radio’s plastic casing melted, filling the home with black smoke and causing $45,000 worth of smoke damage, the release said.
Baker had been living in the home for 44 years.
–Robbyn Mitchell, Times Staff Writer