Erik
09-08-2009, 12:39 PM
Investigators are trying to pinpoint what started--and extinguished -- a bizarre blaze in a northwest apartment where a woman was found dead Sunday.
The woman's body was found on the living room floor of her third-storey suite by a tenant and Alice Beeton, the building's manager, around 1 p. m.
Beeton said she has known the woman for four years and identified her as Linda McGugan, 56.
The manager let herself into the apartment at 6400 Travois Pl. N. W. after McGugan's daughter called when she couldn't reach her mother by phone to pick her up for an appointment.
"I went in and the whole place was burned and black," said Beeton. "I looked at the couch and it was burnt to the springs and she was right there on the floor between the couch and the coffee table.
"I couldn't believe it. She was black."
Some of the tenant's belongings had melted from the intense heat inside the suite, said fire department spokesman Jeff Budai.
Black marks also extended on the outside of the building from the apartment's windows and patio doors, showing the blaze was venting, he said.
But as firefighters walked through, there was no smoke or much heat inside.
It is unclear when the fire broke out, or, more mysteriously, how it was extinguished, Budai said.
"It went virtually undetected. People don't know when it happened."
But Beeton has a theory.
"I noticed that the clock in her living room was melted at 12:30, so I wonder if that's what time she died."
The building manager said McGugan was a smoker and also used an oxygen tank to help her breathe.
"She was a very, very nice lady," said Beeton. "Tiny little thing, she used to get out all the time for a walk, but she hadn't been well."
Considering the high heat and amount of smoke, it's also puzzling the damage did not spread to any of the neighbouring suites or the hall, Budai said, adding there is no indication the blaze is suspicious.
Still, because it involves a fatality, members of the Calgary police arson unit are investigating.
The woman's body was found on the living room floor of her third-storey suite by a tenant and Alice Beeton, the building's manager, around 1 p. m.
Beeton said she has known the woman for four years and identified her as Linda McGugan, 56.
The manager let herself into the apartment at 6400 Travois Pl. N. W. after McGugan's daughter called when she couldn't reach her mother by phone to pick her up for an appointment.
"I went in and the whole place was burned and black," said Beeton. "I looked at the couch and it was burnt to the springs and she was right there on the floor between the couch and the coffee table.
"I couldn't believe it. She was black."
Some of the tenant's belongings had melted from the intense heat inside the suite, said fire department spokesman Jeff Budai.
Black marks also extended on the outside of the building from the apartment's windows and patio doors, showing the blaze was venting, he said.
But as firefighters walked through, there was no smoke or much heat inside.
It is unclear when the fire broke out, or, more mysteriously, how it was extinguished, Budai said.
"It went virtually undetected. People don't know when it happened."
But Beeton has a theory.
"I noticed that the clock in her living room was melted at 12:30, so I wonder if that's what time she died."
The building manager said McGugan was a smoker and also used an oxygen tank to help her breathe.
"She was a very, very nice lady," said Beeton. "Tiny little thing, she used to get out all the time for a walk, but she hadn't been well."
Considering the high heat and amount of smoke, it's also puzzling the damage did not spread to any of the neighbouring suites or the hall, Budai said, adding there is no indication the blaze is suspicious.
Still, because it involves a fatality, members of the Calgary police arson unit are investigating.