WEST HURLEY, N.Y. (AP) - Fire officials say a smoky house fire that killed an 89-year-old woman apparently started when a bird’s nest was ignited by a hot light fixture.
The fire was reported by a neighbor at 1:30 Thursday morning in the Ulster County town of West Hurley. Fire Chief Dave Gutierrez says firefighters brought the fire under control quickly and found Anna Olsen in her second-floor bedroom overcome by smoke.
Efforts to revive her were unsuccessful. Olsen was pronounced dead at a Kingston medical campus.
Gutierrez says heat from a halogen light on the garage apparently ignited an adjacent bird’s nest. Flames melted the siding on the house and charred the garage.
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