(LAPEER COUNTY) – An 80-year-old Lapeer County man died and his 69-year-old wife was injured after fire swept through their home early Wednesday morning.
Lapeer Central Dispatch received a call from the man inside the home shortly after 3 a.m., reporting his house was on fire.
While on the phone with Dispatch, the man told dispatchers that he was having trouble breathing and tried to get outside, and eventually stopped talking.
Investigators believe the fire in the home on Diehl Road in Hadley Township started in a stove and spread into the walls. The Lapeer County Sheriff’s Office and Metamora Police Department arrived on scene first and found the 69-year-old woman already outside.
According to authorities, the house was engulfed in flames and officers attempted a rescue, but intense heat and thick smoke forced them back outside. The four-alarm blaze was fought by Hadley, Metamora, Elba and Brandon Township fire departments.
Firefighters found the man dead inside a bedroom.
An ambulance rushed his wife to McLaren Lapeer Region hospital for treatment of burns and smoke inhalation. She was later transferred to Hurley Medical Center in Flint for further treatment and was listed in stable condition Thursday morning, according to the sheriff’s office.
Michigan State Police have joined the investigation with the Sheriff Department with authorities stating the fire appears to have been accidental. A specific cause had not been determined as of Thursday morning.
