Fire Marshal Stephen Coan said there have been 98 fires and 34 deaths statewide since 1997 blamed on smoking near home oxygen systems.
ORANGE – A fire Sunday at an apartment building that left 1 person injured and displaced 11 was the result of someone smoking in the presence of a home oxygen system, according to state Fire Marshall Stephen D. Coan.
The fire at 200 East River St., Orange, was one of two in Massachusetts on the same day attributed to the same cause, he said.
Six people were displaced and one person seriously injured in a house fire at 15 Main St. in the Berkshire County town of Hinsdale.
Coan said that since 1997, there have been 98 significant fires involving home oxygen, resulting in 34 deaths and injuries to 74 civilians and seven firefighters. Most recently, a 72-year-old Westfield woman was killed in February in a fire at an elderly apartment building that officials said was caused by smoking near a medical oxygen system.
Of the two more recent fires, Coan said “It was unusual to have to such fires on the same day.”
In the Orange fire, firefighters from nine communities just before 9 a.m.
One person was treated at the scene for smoke inhalation.
The fire started in a first floor apartment and moved to a second floor apartment. Both apartments were heavily damaged and the entire building filled with smoke.
The Hinsdale fire, reported at about 4 p.m., started in a second floor bedroom. Two residents of the apartment, a man and woman, were hospitalized for treatment of burns at the UMass Memorial Center in Worcester. The woman was later transferred to the a burn center in Boston., according to the Berkshire Eagle.
Coan and the state Department of Fire Services for several months has been working to increase public awareness of the danger of smoking or having any fire, such as a candle, in the immediate area where medical oxygen is present.
“Oxygen soaks into bedding, clothes, hair, furniture and the air, creating an oxygen-enriched environment,” he said. “This makes things catch fire more easily, fire spread faster and burn hotter,” he said.
People bringing medical oxygen into their homes need to understand there is a significant fire risk, he said.
“There is no safe way to smoke inside a house where medical oxygen is in use but there are other fire risks as well. People should not use electric razors, hair dryers, or curling irons while using oxygen or get within ten feet of an open flame such as a candle, a gas stove, or woodstove.”
The Department of Fire Services has a public awareness campaign Breathe Easy: Home Oxygen Fire Safety that provides information about about the fire dangers of bringing medical oxygen into the home.