CHICACUM — The preliminary cause of a house fire that killed 74-year-old Mary Town on Monday has been narrowed to smoldering cigarette ashes thrown in a bathroom trashcan, the East Jefferson fire chief said.
An investigation of the charred home at 4900 Center Road in Chimacum that lasted late into Monday night produced evidence of cigarettes, said Mike Mingee, East Jefferson Fire-Rescue chief.
Town was not badly burned, which led investigators to believe that the cause of her death was smoke inhalation, he said.
Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney Juelie Dalzell, who was at the scene of the fire in her duties as coroner, on Tuesday afternoon confirmed the cause of death to be smoke inhalation.
Found on couch
Mingee said when firefighters entered the burning home about 2:20 p.m. Monday, they found Town unconscious sitting on a couch with a newspaper close by and her eyeglasses in hand.
This led Mingee to believe that she had fallen asleep while reading and never regained consciousness once the flames erupted — even after emergency crews attempted to resuscitate her, he said.
On Monday, he had suggested that Alzheimer’s disease might have been a contributing factor.
