The Mission Fire Department is investigating the cause of a fire that claimed the life of a woman early Thursday morning.
According to Mission Fire Chief Gilbert Sanchez, his department received a call about a structure fire in the 300 block of Bahia Street just before 3 a.m. Thursday.
“They arrived on scene to an engulfed residential home,” Sanchez said. “During the fire operations, they encountered that there was one individual in the residence at the time of the fire. She was located in one of the rooms and was removed from the home. Our medic unit started doing interventions in regards to her condition.”
The woman, who was in her 60s, was transported to Mission Regional Hospital where she was pronounced dead. Her identity is being withheld at the moment.
The chief said it’s unknown if anyone else lived at the residence with the woman, but at the time of the fire, she was the only person in the home.
The cause of the fire has yet to be determined.
“They are finalizing their investigation, but obviously there are still other things that need to be done — interviews and so on,” Sanchez said.
Sanchez said the public should be proactive about preventing further fire related tragedies.
“Check your homes for any potential hazards for fires,” Sanchez said. “Make sure that your smoke detectors are working properly. If they have batteries, please change them (with) every time change. Hopefully, have working fire extinguishers within the home. We practice that for businesses, but we need to have those as well at home.”
