Woman Catches On Fire While Smoking Near Fireplace

HARRISON TWP. (WWJ) - A Macomb County woman was badly burned after she caught on fire while smoking a cigarette near a gas fireplace.

The incident happened around 5:20 p.m. Thursday at a home in the 38000 block of Mast Street, in a subdivision off 16 Mile Road and Jefferson Avenue in Harrison Township.

According to the sheriff's department, the 56-year-old woman was smoking a cigarette near a gas log fireplace when her clothes ignited. The woman told police she fell to the floor and started to roll in an attempt to extinguish the flames.

The woman's son, who was upstairs at the time, heard a smoke alarm going off and rushed to see what happened. He told police when he got downstairs, he found his mother wrapped in flames in front of the fireplace.

Police say the woman's son poured a bowl of water over her before covering her with an area rug to extinguish the flames.

The woman was rushed to McLaren Macomb Hospital in critical condition, and was then transferred to the burn center at Detroit Receiving Hospital. She reportedly has burns covering 50 percent of her body, but is expected to recover. Her name was not released.