A Bloomington man died early Friday morning in a fire at an eastside assisted-living center. This is the first fire death inside the city since 2016.
66-year-old Rickey Harper died from injuries sustained in the fire, according to Monroe County Coroner Joani Stalcup. Harper’s autopsy was scheduled for Saturday.
Firefighters were notified around 12:05 a.m. and arrived at Evergreen Village within six and a half minutes.
Bloomington Fire Chief Jason Moore said the building’s sprinkler system activated and contained the fire to the origin point.
“We have now gone through the investigative process and found that the cause of the fire is more likely than not smoking in bed while on oxygen.”
Moore attributed the previous six years of zero fire deaths to increased prevention.
“And I can assure the public that we're looking into this situation, to try to make sure that we not only talk with the facility there, but any other facilities that may have people on oxygen and to make sure that we're doing a better job of making sure that people aren't smoking while on oxygen.”
Moore advises against smoking indoors. Instead, he recommends finding a designated smoking area where you can properly dispose of materials.
