ROCKFORD - An 89-year-old woman whose clothing caught fire over a stove burned to death Wednesday afternoon as she tried calling for help.
Investigators said Bertha Alexander was boiling water for tea when her robe caught fire on the coils of her electric stove. Firefighters were summoned by an internal smoke alarm about 2 p.m. found Alexander dead in an easy chair, the telephone off the hook at her side.
Winnebago County Coroner Sue Fiduccia said Alexander was burned beyond recognition, perhaps suffering burns over 100 percent of her body. Unbelieveably, almost none of the furnishings arounf her sustained any damage.
Firefighters who broke through the apartment's back door used hand extinguishers to put out bits of burning clothing on the living room carpeting. The smoldering chair beneath Alexander offered the only other evidence of fire.
"It's the first one of these I've seen like that, and I've been in the department 22 years," said Rockford Division Fire Chief Bill Britton. "Just awful."
Officials said Alexander lived in the first-floor apartment with her daughter, while her granddaughter lived in the apartment upstairs.
No funeral arangements had been made by late Wednesday night.