The state fire marshal's office says a fire that killed a Nashua woman and prompted two other people to jump from a second-story window was caused by careless disposal of smoking materials.
Authorities said Thursday the April 13 fire started in the area of a couch on the front porch of the multi-family home on Girouard Avenue in Nashua. Investigators say smoking materials started the fire.
Thirty-seven-year-old Maria Barriga-Consoni died of smoke inhalation in the fire. The people who jumped from the second-story window were not injured.
State Fire Marshal William Degnan says that almost 1,000 smokers and non-smokers nationwide each year are killed in house fires caused by cigarettes and other smoking materials.
Copyright AP - Associated Press
