LIVERMORE — An overnight fire at a house that caused by smoking in bed hospitalized a woman and killed one of her four dogs, fire officials said.
Livermore-Pleasanton Fire crews responded about 1:30 a.m. to a single-story home in the 1000 block of Florence Road and saw heavy smoke billowing from the front door when they arrived, Battalion Chief Daniel Moyles said.
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Amid the smoke, a woman emerged from the front door on her own, Moyles said. She later went to the hospital for treatment of smoke injuries that she was expected to survive.
A man in the house also got out of the home and was not hospitalized, Moyles said. Three other dogs also made it out.
Moyles said the woman told investigators she was smoking in bed and fell asleep.
“The safety message is that if you have to smoke before you sleep, make sure you do it before you crawl into bed,” Moyles said.
The house appeared to hold up fairly well after the blaze, with a wooden barrier covering the front door the only indication from the front that something was amiss.
“It’s a clean house from the front,” Moyles said. “But there’s extensive damage inside to the rear. The overhaul was extensive.”
Moyles said the house was not livable but would be after repair work.
“Re-support some of the structure members that got burned,” he said. “Add some sheet rock. Paint. Six months from now it could be a brand-new-looking house.”
