Crime & Safety
Officials ID Elderly, Wheelchair-Bound Woman Killed in Hayward Fire
Fire officials believe an electrical malfunction was the likely cause of the fire.
A wheelchair-bound woman killed in a one-alarm house fire in Hayward early Friday morning has been identified as 75-year-old Carol Flores, an Alameda County coroner's deputy said today.
Flores was inside the home in the 24800 block of Townsend Avenue along with her niece and niece's husband when the fire broke out a short time before 1 a.m. Friday, according to Hayward fire Capt. Don Nichelson.
Related article: Elderly, Wheelchair-Bound Woman Dies in Hayward House Fire
The husband and wife discovered the fire in a bedroom and tried unsuccessfully to douse the flames before evacuating, the fire captain said. Fire crews arriving on the scene were able to bring Flores out of the house and attempted to resuscitate her. However, she was pronounced dead at the scene. Flores' nephew-in-law was taken to a hospital with chest pains and his wife was uninjured. Two pet cats and two birds also perished in the fire, while several other birds kept in the home's backyard survived, according to Nichelson.
Crews had the fire under control by 1:10 a.m., he said. The fire captain said the blaze appears to have been caused by an electrical malfunction and started near an outlet where several items were plugged in.
—By Bay City News
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