~This Page is about DEATH caused by smoking in bed and how and why we die in fires!! We do not like to hear or think about death but thru it we may learn, and learn we must, so get yourself another cup of coffee and bring that box of Kleenex a little closer.~

~SMOKING, ALCOHOL & DRUGS DON'T MIX~

~There is a saying that, "Drinking and driving do not mix". This also applies with fire, for drinking and smoking do not mix as you will see in these cases of deaths caused by smoking in bed and misplaced cigarettes.

~It was about 5:20 A.M. when the fire bell rang and the lights came on in the dormitory of the fire station, the dispatcher called out on the loudspeaker the address of a reported housefire in South Seattle. We all jumped out of bed into our bunkerpants and boots kept next to our bedside, we ran out to tha apparatus floor, put on our bunkercoats and helmets and boarded the fire trucks and aid-car.~

~It was raining out, the streets were slick and it was just breaking dawn. Gary was driving and about that time a car came through the intersection from our right, a few seconds sooner and we would not have gotten to the fire. When Gary saw the car from the corner of his eye he hit the brakes, we started sliding broadside, calmly he brought the large firetruck out of the slide, as we came close to hitting a parked car. That drivers training had paid off.~

~As we pulled up in front of the address we could see several people in their night clothes waving their arms at us, pointing at the house. Up on the front porch a man was laying near the open front door, the heavy smoke was pouring out. He was a neighbor who had kicked in the door, trying to save the occupant of the house. The thick smoke and terrific heat had driven him to the porch deck, luckily his lungs were not seared, or worse yet, the fire gasses had not ignited into an explosion as the fresh air containing oxygen rushing in at the bottom of the doorway,blowing out the windows and him into the yard or street, and turning the inside of the house into a roaring inferno as so often happend.~

~We put on our self-contained air masks and laid out a fire hose to the front door as Dan went to the roof to cut a hole to ventilate and let out the smoke, heat and gasses so we could get into the house and find the fire which could not be seen. As Jim and I entered the livingroom with the hose, we could see the fire was not in there or the kitchen. Then I noted the scorched paint peeling from the closed bedroom door.~

~I opened the door and the heat and thick smoke rushed out driving us to the floor. Jim directed a fog pattern of water from the hose toward the ceiling to cool the air and drive the smoke out. I crawled toward the bedroom window to break it out and release more smoke, heat and steam. Half way across the room I crawled into a large soft hot object, I thought, Oh God I hope it isn't what I think it is.~

~The smoke had cleared enought for Jim to soak down what once had been a mattress and bed, all that remained was a large pile of springs, a metal frame, and some smoldering remains of mattress, boxsprings and bedding. I could then plainly see on the floor what I had hoped against and had so many times before seen. What had once been a human being, someones loving mother and grandmother. As always it was not a pretty sight.~

~I felt my stomach trying to reach my mouth and ran outside to remove my airmask and get some fresh air. I thought, WHY?, Why in such a advanced country like ours does such a thing have to keep happening? A inexpensive smoke detector had not yet been produced and on the market. And she did sleep with her bedroom door closed as we in the fire service teach to keep the fire gases out of the sleeping areas to give you time to escape from the toxic gasses and smoke. But in this case the fire was in her bedroom. I had the coronor called for.~

~I started my invetigation in the livingroom, I noted it was very unkept, piles of newspapers on the table, floor and couch, the ashtrays overflowing with cigarettes butts and burnt matches, cigarette butts on the floor and carpet, burn marks on the couch, overstuffed chair and on the carpet from previous misplaced cigarettes. On the coffee table was a empty and half full whiskey bottle, a empty glass nearby had the odor of whiskey in it. Thruout the room was a lifetime collection of nick-nacks, vases, knitting and all the tables and walls contained photographs of loved ones, the old, the young and the very young.~

~In the kitchen the sink was full of dirty dishes, dried food covered and partialy eaten. The garbage container in the corner was full, as well as the brown paper bag next to it, both contained many cigarette butts. The ashtrays on the kitchen table and sink counter were over flowing with cigarettes and burnt matches, there were several burn marks on the linolium and counter top from dropped cigarettes. On the counter top as well as in the garbage were empty whiskey bottles.~

~In the bathroom, the open medicine cabinet and sink counter were lined with prescription bottles, it looked like a drugstore, pills for diet, pain, nerves, sleep, tension, and depression. The clothes hamper was full and dirty clothes lay on the floor against the electric baseboard heater. Near the sink lay a overflowing ashtray, the same cigarette burn marks on the counter top, as well as a empty glass with the odor of whiskey.~

~As I entered the bedroom I was met by that same sickning sweet smell of human flesh, it is something you can never forget and can not compare to anything else. On the floor lay the burnt body of a large elderly, obese woman in the tipical fetal position. She had once been Caucasian but now was the familiar black,brown, orange and yellow color that results from baking in a slow smoldering fire with out flame, that is the result of a misplaced cigarette on a bed,couch, or overstuffed chair, in this case the bed.~

~Her once gray hair was burned and matted close to her head, similar to to a burnt wool coat in smell and color. She was curled up like a baby sleeps, her arms and legs drawn up by the heat contracting her muscles. The remains of a nightgown were under her body where the heat could not reach, between her legs near her ankles was a burnt feather pillow. She was laying just two feet from the side of her bed. Photos and measurement were taken and all the medication bottles gathered up and given to the coronor, as she was removed for a autopsy.~

~The top of the scorched nightstand next to the bed I noted the same overflowing ashtray and empty glass. The bedsprings on the floor were anealed by the slow smoldering fire and were sunk within themselves and pulled stright with ease. After all the room furnishings and debris was removed from the bedroom I noted the hardwood floor was baked black and brown except where the furniture and body had been covered from the heat and smoke. The yellow window drapes were unburnt but scorched at the top, the windows, mirror, and other glass objects had the typical baked on brown,orange and yellow color that could not be seen through and was cracked due to the heat, fire gasses, smoke and water spray.~

~In interviewing neighbors, friends and relitives I learned that she was a recent widow, 69 years old, a very heavy drinker and depressed since her late husbands death, a very heavy smoker with bad smoking and housekeeping habits. She was very sickly, a hypocondriac, always going to different doctors because they told her to stop her drinking and smoking. The fire was discovered by a neighbor who checks on her early each morning to see if she is alright,and seen smoke from the house and called the fire department.~

~My investigation revealed that the fire resulted from smoking in bed, with sleep induced by alcohol and medications. As the victim was not found in the remains of the bed but on the floor near near the bed, it appears that she was awaken by the heat and smoke but simi-conscious from carbon monoxide, drugs and alcohol. She stood up with the pillow entangled between her legs into the superheated gasses and smoke and collapsed to the floor where she died another victim of smoking in bed, being discovered after the fire had smoldered for several hours.~

~I attended the autopsy which answered all of the questions I needed answered to complete my investigation and close the case. The victim had died from a concentration of 60% carbon monoxide and other toxic fire gasses in her blood. She had been alive prior to the fire and had not died of a heart attack or other causes and had dropped her cigarette. Her lungs were seared from the heat and contained soot from breathing the smoke and fire gasses. She had received second and third degree burns to all exposed parts of her body. She had not eaten recently and her blood contained high concentrations of drugs and alcohol. She had been suffering from emphysema, cirrhosis of the liver and hardning of the arteries.~

~ALL BURNED UP~

~The fire had started in the bed, smoldering without flames, producing carbon monoxide and other toxic fire gases rendering the victim unconcious without ever knowing there was a fire. The heat cracked the bedroom windows and they fell out letting in the needed oxygen for the smoldering contents to ignite into flames. The autopsy showed the victim died of burns and carbon monoxide poisoning, he had a very high alcohol content in his blood and was suffering from emphysema and cirrhosis of the liver as well as scar tissue on his heart from a previous heart attack. Smoking and alcohol had been a hazard to his health.~

~HER LAST PARTY~
~The call came in at 6:45 A.M."House Fire, Lady Inside" in Southwest Seattle, I was paged out to investigate a fatality.~

~When I arrived the officer in charge informed me that when the fire trucks arrived heavy smoke was coming out of the eaves, and the upper floors of the house, flames had been comming out the lower level rear window, and when they entered the first floor, flames were coming up the stairway from the lower level. The fire had been extinguished prior to my arrival and the firefighters were now removing thick smoke from the house.~

~Several people in the gathering group of onlookers came over to us and said they had been at a party in the residence that had ended at about 3 A.M. There had been much drinking and dancing and had been ordered by the police to turn down the music at about 2 A.M. and the home owner was a 43 year old female divorce that lived in the house alone.~

~The victim who had been found on the first floor was pointed out to me. She was wedged between the bedroom door and wall, which showed signs of scraches, her long fingernails were broken and cracked, she showed no signs of burns or heat. She was dressed in a long nightgown, her bed appeared to have been slept in, her bathrobe lay on a chair near the bed. The ceilings and upper walls in her bedroom as well as all other rooms on the first floor were covered by black soot and heat damage.~

~Traveling down the hall and through the livingroom I could see the victim had been a very good housekeeper, everything was neat and clean and in it's place. As I went down the stairs to the lower level I could see where the smoke, toxic gasses, heat and then flames came up the stairway like a chimmny. seeking victims and a way out as it always does.~

~The lower level was a very large recreation room and joining laundry room which were completly "gutted out" by the fire. The room had been lined with knottypine walls which had really added fuel to the fire. I located the point of origin of the fire where it had burnt the longest and done the most damage. The typical "V" char pattern on the wall pointed down to what had been a couch, now it was just a pile of ashes, smoldering cotton and soft,weak springs sunk in themselves indicating a slow smoldering type fire. A window was located above that location, the cracked and broken window glass as well as all other glass in the area had that same baked on brown/orange color that is caused by the smoke being baked on in a slow smoldering fire which most often takes the lives of it's victims if they are not awaken early by a smoke detector.~

~On the tables,chairs and floor I found many empty and partly empty drinking glasses and ashtrays full of burnt remains of cigarette butts. In the ashes of the couch I found a broken, burnt ashtray and a lot of melted cigarette filters.~

~The cause of this fire,as in so very many resulting in fatalities, was a misplaced cigarette on the couch. The partying people had been drinking and smoking for many hours. A cigarette either dropped on the couch or the ashtray had been sitting on the arm of the couch as is so often done, and a lit cigarette burnt down, lost it's balance and fell down between the arm and cushion of the couch where it smoldered for several hours sending it's deadly carbon monoxide, toxic gasses and then heat and flames upstairs.~

~The victim being tired and impaired by the alcohol and dancing, went up to bed after the party was over where she lay sleeping for hours while the carbon monoxide and fire gasses flowed up the stairway filling the upper rooms where it could find no way out, so it silently filled the rooms until she was breathing in the odorless gasses, dulling her senses and displacing the oxygen in her blood. The rising heat must have awaken her, where in her dazed and confused state she got out of her bed and collapsed, crawling to where she was trapped scratching the door, breaking her fingernails and dieing.~

~The autopsy revealed a very high alcohol and carbon monoxide content in her blood. Another death from the silent killer,~

~In just about all fires there is not enough oxygen (air) for the fire to burn compleatly because there is not a fresh air supply in the inclosed house, so burning is incomplete and the smoldering fire produces carbon monoxide, the silent killer. Just about every person who dies in a house fire dies of carbon monoxide poisoning, most often refered to in the news media as, "smoke inhalation".~

~It is very uncommon for such victims to be burned by the fire untill after death, then they may be found burned and charred, but the autopsy will show the cause of death to be very high concentrations of carbon monoxide. In just about all cases of fire deaths it will be found that the victims died in their beds with the bedroom doors open and no smoke detector in the house or the battery was dead or had been removed. Very often the victim will be found to have a very high concentration of alcohol or medication or illegal drugs in their blood.~

~A victim breathing in small amounts of carbon monoxide over a long period of time will result in the same effect as the victim breathing in very heavy amounts for a short time. A concentration of 0.2% is dangerous to life while a concentration of 0.5% will cause unconsciousness after a few minutes and death will follow quickly.~

~The danger of breathing carbon monoxide is the senses are dulled and there is no warning if you are already sleeping. While awake or if awaken by heat or sound you will notice a headache,faintness and nausea, with flickers before the eyes, and will make you make the greatest mistake of laying down. You become sleepy and confused and your arms and legs become numb. If you realize the danger, it is usually too late, as your body is so weak you cannot save yourself. Very often the victims are found near a door or window which they were too weak to open or break or too confused to even think about it.~

~Another very common source of carbon monoxide death you read about all the time is by using a charcoal burner (habachi) inside a closed area or car exhaust in a garage or trapped a snowbank where it comes into the car and is undetectable because it has no odor.~

~It also must be remembered that we already have a low concentration in our blood everyday from breathing polutions such as smoke from exhausts, heating our homes, industrial plants,and cigarette smoke. It is not uncommon for a person to have .05 % in his blood.~

~Death by carbon monoxide, in reality is death by oxygen starvation and is not a fast process. If you have already breathed in a deadly quanity of the gas, it will continue building up higher concentrations in the blood untill you stop breathing. Therefor one victim could die with a lower concentration than another.~

~If a person is inactive, such as laying down sleeping, his need for oxygen is less than if he were running. He will be breathing more slowly and in shallow breaths. He will have lower concentrations of carbon monoxide in his blood, thus it will affect him slower, he may wake up and stand up into the superheated air and fire gasses, or use up the remaining oxygen in his blood and collapse and die.~

~The active person, such as the person who discovers the smoke or fire and runs through the house trying to rescue someone or in trying to escape, will breath in higher concentrations faster and will have higher concentrations in his blood.~

~As it is odorless and colorless it cannot be smelled or seen, it is a product of incomplete combustion. It invades the blood stream through the lungs, unites with the hemoglobin (carries oxygen in the blood) in the red blood corpuscles so that they cannot carry oxygen to the cells of the body, and asphyxiation ensues. The blood of the carbon monoxide victim is cherry red, the skin is very pink.~

~Like oxygen in the breath, it will combine with the hemoglobin of our blood, but over 250 times faster than oxygen will, and therefore takes the place of the oxygen our body requires to sustain life and the body cells starve for oxygen and suffocation takes place.~

~The burning of ordinary household materials produces many other toxic gases besides carbon monoxide, such as carbon dioxide, ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, acetic acid, as well as Hydrogen, Nitrogen and Methane which are also flammable gases.~

~The average content of your home that produce these gases are: one or more upholstered chairs, couches, beds with mattresses, boxsprings and bedding, draperies, curtins, carpets, rugs and pads. There is clothing, foam rubber in furniture and mattresses. stero systems, radios, televisions and computers. Wood framed furniture and tables covered with paint, varnish, lacquers and waxes as well as floors, moldings and plywood panneling on the walls which are made of finished wood. Many of the small appliances are made of plastic. And there are lots of papers, books and magazines in the home.~

~The burning of these materials can produce the following amounts of these gasses and that amount which is dangerous or fatal:

GAS %PRODUCED %DANGEROUS/FATAL CarbonDioxide......20-30.................-1%
Ammonia............40-50%...............0.5%
HydrogenSulfide.....8-9%................0.1%
Sulphur Dioxi.......3-5%................0.2%
Hydrocyanic Acid...1 1/2-2.............0.04%

~CARBON DIOXIDE~ is also colorless and odorless and will not support combustion or burn. It is heavier than air, but when heated it will rise with other gasses to the ceiling and then go back to the floor where it will settle (this is why you should not crawl out of a burning building on your belly, but on your hands and knees).~

~It is absorbed into the blood thru the lungs and stimulates your breathing, that is, it makes you breath faster and the faster you breath, the more other toxic gases you breath in. It causes mental excitement, followed by depression, coma and death.~

~AMMONIA~ is an eye, nose, throat and lung irritant. It also irritates and burns the moist skin areas on/in the body. In any concentration it will produce death if the victim is trapped or unconcious.~

~HYDROGEN SULFIDE~ is four times more toxic than carbon monoxide in equal concentrations. It has the odor of rotten eggs, it is also heavier than air and is explosive. It paralyzes the sense of smell and it is both an asphyxiant and an irritant, it effects the nervous system, causing drowsiness, delirium, comvulsions and coma. It causes your breathing to fail and also slows your heart action.~

~SULFUR DIOXIDE~ is twice as heavy as air and settles to the floor, it is also an irritant like ammonia. It will cause spasm of the larynx and pulmonary edema (fluid in the lungs) and is a severe hazard to those trapped or unconscious.~

~HYDROGEN CYANIDE~ is lighter than air and rises to the ceiling like carbon monoxide and is extreamly poisonous. It is absorbed into the blood thru the lungs and prevents the oxygen from getting to the rest of the body where it is needed to sustain life, and breathing paralysis quickly follows.~

~As it's toxic action is so fast, it is used in many states for legal executions. Small amounts of this gas cause dizziness, constriction of the throat, vomiting, comvulsions and involuntary emptying of the bladder and bowels. It also may produce difficulty in speaking, partial or compleat paralysis.~