Cigarette Causes Deadly Nursing Home Fire in Green Cove Springs

Lieutenant Robby Stephens

Annie Collins

GREEN COVE SPRINGS, FL -- The Fire Marshal's office says careless smoking started a fire in a nursing home. The Fire Marshal tells First Coast News the victim was smoking next to an oxygen tank while in bed and the bed caught fire.

"What we have is a case of careless smoking. This is our preliminary findings. We've eliminated other causes. We have identified some paraphernalia related to smoking", says Lieutenant Robby Stephens with State Fire Marshall's Office.

It happened at the Governor's Creek Health and Rehab center.

We're told the man who died was in his sixties. Authorities have not yet released any more information on the victim.

Nine people were hurt in the fire. All were taken to Orange Park Hospital for treatment of smoke inhalation.

The fire started around 4:30 p.m. Clay County firefighters had it out quickly after it started.

The nursing home has closed off the wing where the fire broke out. Otherwise, all other patients are back in the building tonight.

Annie Collins says she and her friend heard fire trucks in the area. Later she realized the fire was coming from the same building her father lives in.

"I told the policeman look, my daddy is over there. He told me which wing it was and I said that's the wing he was on and I said oh my God", says Collins.

Lieutenant Stephens says the fire was contained to the bed the victim was in. They also say the oxygen machine added more fuel to the fire.

"Anytime you introduce oxygen, especially that quality of oxygen into a fire enviornment all you're going to do is help the fire and that's exactly what it did", says Stephens.

"I thank God nothing else happened but I feel sorry for the family that lost somebody," says Collins.

Fire investigators credit a fast acting staff, fire fighters who arrived to the scene in minutes, and the building itself. The building's walls and ceilings are made of concrete. This helped to isolate the fire.

Fire investigators say several of the victims are staff members at the nursing home. Fire investigators expect all nine who were taken to the hospital to be released soon.