BLOOMINGTON — One person is dead after an early morning house fire on the south side of Bloomington Monday, according to a release from the Monroe Fire Protection District.
MFD said firefighters were dispatched to a home on South Fairfax Rd at 1:14 a.m.
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Firefighters arrived approximately five minutes after the dispatch and found “heavy fire coming from the front door,” while bystanders said they were unsure if anyone was inside.
Monroe County Sheriff’s deputies told firefighters they believed an older person lived in the home and rarely left. A firefighter quickly searched the back of the home, which was not yet on fire, and found an unresponsive victim in the kitchen, where thick smoke obscured visibility.
Life-saving measures were initiated immediately to save the victim, who was transported to the nearest hospital by ambulance, but later died.
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MFD said it took approximately eight minutes from when the victim was found in the house to being pulled out from the house and en route to the hospital.
The rest of the home was searched, and no one else was found. The fire was extinguished, and the scene was turned over to the MFD fire investigators, who were assisted by the Indiana State Fire Marshal’s Office. The group ruled the fire to be an accident due to discarded smoking material.