LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - A fire that started in a home early Tuesday morning caused a woman to have a medical emergency that resulted in her death, family members say.
The fire started just after 3:00 a.m., at a mobile home off Eastland Drive between Loudon Avenue and Industry Road.
Corie Everhart says his mother, 55-year-old Linda Buell, woke up and lit a cigarette.
"My mom was lying in bed smoking on oxygen unfortunately," says Everhart.
He says Buell fell asleep and her cigarette caught an oxygen tube on fire.
"Whenever it did that, my stepdad came running down the hall and got me," Everhart explains. "I went in there and practically dragged her out of the bed, laid her in the hallway and went back in there and put the fire out myself."
Everhart says he used a blanket and his bare feet to put out flames that had spread to the bed and carpet.
"I came back out after I got the fire out and started doing CPR and stuff on her, trying to get her back, but she couldn't come back," he says.
Everhart says his mother had been battling COPD for the past five years and only had about six more months to live. But, he says the panic of the fire caused her to have a heart attack.
Buell was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at the hospital.
"She actually sat and told me just yesterday," says Everhart. "We were sitting in there talking and she said she was ready to go. So, she loved God."
Everhart also suffered second and third degree burns to his right foot while trying to put out the fire.
