From the newsroom of the Observer-Dispatch, Utica, New York, Thursday, July 14, 2005 .....

'It smelled weird, and it got worse'

Electrical cord blamed in Lafayette Street fire

KRISTA J. KARCH
Observer-Dispatch

UTICA -- A woman was treated at the scene for smoke inhalation after her 740 Lafayette St. home caught fire Wednesday morning while she was asleep inside.

Patricia Carey, 51, who shares the home with Jonathan Delaney, 50, said she was home alone when she woke up and heard the sound of sirens outside.

"Something woke me up," she said. "It smelled weird, and it got worse."

Carey said she fled the two-story brick home when she realized the smell was smoke.

"I heard the sirens, but then I always hear sirens," she said outside the house.

A neighbor saw smoke billowing from the home and called 911 at about 10:30 a.m., Chief Fire Marshal Raymond Beck said. The fire was under control by 10:55 a.m., he said, with fire and smoke damage limited to the second floor. Water damage was spread throughout the entire building, he said.

The fire was caused by an overloaded extension cord used to power an electric clothes dryer, Beck said.

Delaney, who is deaf, returned from visiting a relative to see firefighters at his house, he said through a sign language interpreter. As family gathered to comfort him, he gestured toward a charred television set discarded on the side lawn.

Delaney said he's lived there for nearly 40 years. It was his mother's before she died and was left to him.

Copyright © 2005 Observer-Dispatch.

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