GRETNA, La. (AP) - A disabled Louisiana man was killed after food left unattended on a stove sparked a fire, state fire investigators said Wednesday.
The fire happened Tuesday just after 6 p.m. in an apartment complex with four units in Gretna, a suburb of New Orleans, the state Fire Marshal’s Office said in a news release. The victim was a 55-year-old man who was confined to a wheelchair, authorities said. His body was found in a rear bedroom. The Jefferson Parish Coroner’s Office will conduct an autopsy to determine a cause of death.
Witnesses told investigators the victim’s father, who he lived with, left to go to a store and turned the burner on low before leaving instead of turning the stove off.
Working fire alarms were not found in the apartment.
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