WESTMINSTER : County Records First Fire Fatality of Year

A 75-year-old woman died in a fire at her house Monday, and investigators said she apparently had been smoking in bed.

The victim was identified as Helene Commerdingers, Westminster Fire Department Battalion Chief Hal Raphael said. She was the first person to die in a fire in Orange County this year.

Investigators today will go back to the house at 13882 Wilson St. to assess the damage and determine whether the fire was actually caused by a cigarette.

Neighbors called the 911 emergency number about 1 p.m. after seeing flames coming from the victim’s bedroom window.

“I was inside watching television with a friend when we started smelling smoke,” said neighbor Nick Semonza, 19. “We came outside the house to see where it was coming from and saw smoke coming from the vents and windows of her home.”

Semonza said he then broke the bedroom and living room windows in an effort to get Commerdingers out.

Raphael said Commerdingers, an invalid, lived with her husband, who was at work at the time of the fire.

Neighbors said the couple had lived in the house for more than 20 years but had not been seen much in several years.

“She was a really nice old lady who I can remember as a kid always baking cookies for us and inviting us over,” said Julie Zabala, a neighbor. “But during the last few years, her health was not too good and she was losing her eyesight. All she ever did was sit in that back bedroom.”