A deadly fire at a single-family home in Plainville was likely caused by smoking materials and medical oxygen equipment, officials said.
The fire at 61 School St. of Plainville on Friday left Mark Beyersdorfer, the sole occupant of the home, 68, with life-threatening injuries, said Plainville Fire Chief Robert Skinner, Plainville Police Chief James Floyd, State Fire Marshal Jon Davine and Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey in a joint statement. It was the fourth time this month that oxygen materials were found at the scene of a deadly fire.
Investigators found smoking materials and oxygen equipment in the fires in Chicopee, Greenfield, Leominster and Wakefield, according to the release.
Skinner, the fire chief, noted that smoking is the leading cause of deadly fires in Massachusetts and across the country.
“We want to remind all of our residents that there is no truly safe way to smoke and that smoking in the oxygen environment of the home is especially dangerous,” he said in the statement.
The origin and exact cause of the fire remains under investigation.
Over the past five years, six Massachusetts residents have died in fires caused by home oxygen fumes, and several more have been injured, according to the statement.