Crime & Safety

Man Who Tried to Light Cigarette on Stove Dies of Burns, Officials Say

The Kensington man's clothes reportedly caught fire.

A Kensington man who tried to light his cigarette from the stove caught his clothing on fire and died Thursday from burns, according to authorities.

According to the Montgomery County Fire Department, firefighters were dispatched at about 4:30 a.m. Thursday to the 3900 block of Decatur Avenue in Kensington on a report of a kitchen fire. Medics found Thomas Dolan Geoghegan, 69, critically burned in the kitchen and took him to a hospital, where he later died.

WJZ TV reported that Geoghegan’s clothes caught fire as he tried to light a cigarette on a stove. Smoke alarms sounded in the residence and Geoghegan’s wife doused her husband with water before calling 911.

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Fire investigators have ruled the fire accidental and the State Medical Examiner’s Office will determine the official cause of death, the department said. Damage to the home was estimated at $300.

Geoghegan’s death is the third fire-related death this year in the county, the TV station reports.

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