SIMI VALLEY : Smoking Blamed for House Fire Fatality

An elderly Simi Valley woman who apparently had been smoking in bed died when her house caught fire early Friday morning, county fire officials said.

Jane Dinsmore, 81, was found in a hallway, dead of smoke inhalation. Dinsmore was attempting to escape the fire in her bedroom, officials said.

Firefighters from a new station just a block away arrived at the Congressional Road duplex at 1:20 a.m. and contained the fire by 1:45 a.m., officials said.

The fire caused $60,000 in damage before it was extinguished. No one else was in the house at the time of the one-alarm fire, officials said. Dinsmore’s daughter, Beth, also lived at the home, but was away on business, officials said.