An elderly woman is dead following an afternoon fire at a South Surrey apartment building last weekend.
Surrey deputy fire Chief Dan Barnscher said the victim was located in a ground-floor suite at 1860 Southmere Cresc. just after 4:30 p.m. Saturday and rushed to hospital.
Emergency crews were alerted to the blaze by a 911 call, and could see smoke and flames coming from the suite on arrival.
The critically injured victim – whose age and identity were not made public at Peace Arch News press time Monday afternoon – was located in the same room that investigators later determined the fire had started.
Transported to Royal Columbian Hospital with burns and smoke inhalation injuries, she died later that evening.
Barnscher said cause of the fire was “smoking-related materials,” and damage was confined to the one room.
He noted the building did have functioning smoke alarms and heat detectors.
