Baltimore Hospital Fire Leaves Patient Dead - East Idaho News
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Baltimore Hospital Fire Leaves Patient Dead

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GETTY 111113 HospRoom?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1384192856417iStock/Thinkstock(BALTIMORE) — A Baltimore hospital patient has died following a fire that broke out in the patient’s room, leading to rumors that the patient had been smoking.

The fire broke out Friday evening at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, hospital spokesman Sharon Boston confirmed to ABC News in a statement.  No one else was injured and firefighters put out the flames quickly, she said.

The Baltimore Fire Department is still investigating what caused the fire, department spokesman Ian Brennan told ABC News. He said people listening to the fire department radio frequency overheard firefighters speculating that the patient had been smoking, leading to blogs and tweets about the fire, but officials said they couldn’t confirm this.

Still, Brennan said the fire was “extremely unique” because it began inside a patient’s room. He added that the fire department’s chief said he had never seen anything like it in his three decades as a firefighter.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

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