Woman found in her Minneapolis home after small fire burned itself out dies weeks later

A residential fire in Minneapolis proved fatal weeks later for a woman who lived there, officials said Friday.

Fire crews were sent to the 4400 block of 16th Avenue S. about 3:40 p.m. on Oct. 5 and saw the 91-year-old woman in a kitchen chair and struggling to breathe, said Assistant Fire Chief Melanie Rucker

The woman was carried out to an HCMC ambulance and hospitalized in serious condition from smoke inhalation, Rucker said. Fire officials were notified Friday of her death.

While officials have yet to release the woman’s name, the family identified her in her obituary as Barbara Lee Cecil.

Fire crews saw that “the house was covered in soot from an apparent fire that recently happened” and was no longer burning, a statement from Rucker read.

Investigators determined there was a small fire in the living room that burned itself out, Rucker continued.

Rucker did not say when the fire broke out or when the woman died. Cecil’s son, Jim Cecil, said she died on Oct. 19.

The assistant chief said the fire was possibly caused either by a candle that ignited nearby flammable material or an electrical failure related to the television.

Rucker said most of the damage from the fire was to the television and “other ordinary combustibles adjacent to the television.”

The fire produced a large amount of smoke, and there was soot on surfaces throughout the house, she said.

Rucker said there have been four fire-related fatalities in the city so far this year.

Cecil was an avid gardener who “adored her pets, especially her dog Maggie,” the obituary read.

Before retiring, she worked for the Internal Revenue Service and Lutheran Social Service, the obituary continued.