The Texas Fire Marshal’s Office on Tuesday identified a 73-year-old man killed in a Borger apartment fire Sunday afternoon.
Kenneth Herin was smoking a cigarette that somehow ignited a home oxygen supply used for breathing assistance, Fire Marshal Jerry Langwell said. the initial flash fire burned Herin’s throat and lungs, according to preliminary autopsy results.
Investigators have not yet determined exactly how the cigarette ignited the oxygen, Langwell said.
“As far as the events that played out, we’re still looking at a couple other things we have to put together,” he said. At 1:17 p.m. Sunday, firefighters responded to the call at 405 N. Harvey St. The fire was out when firefighters arrived, but Herin was dead inside the house, he said.
Langwell said the apartment had two smoke detectors installed but neither of them had batteries at the time of the fire.
“I couldn’t tell you in these circumstances if (active smoke detectors would have helped Herin) or not,” Langwell said. “It might have helped. Smoking while on oxygen is just never, never ever a good idea.”