INDEPENDENCE, Ky. -- An early morning fire in Independence has claimed the life of an elderly woman who lived in the home.
Independence Police Chief Sean Butler says the victim was 73-year-old Iwana McHendrix.
Butler also said that the cause of the fire has been ruled accidental, adding that smoking may have been a factor.
The fire broke out in a home on the 10000 block of Sharpsburg Drive around 5 a.m.
Emergency crews transported to the woman to the hospital where she later died.
The fire also sent two firefighters to the hospital after one of the woman's oxygen tanks exploded.
"The force of that rupture actually put holes in the floor, knocked out a wall, and damaged a car in the garage. It was pretty extensive," said Chief Rick Messingschlager of the Independence Fire Department.
Two firefighters were in a hallway just exiting the room.
"I saw two firemen in full equipment coming out of the door holding their heads as though a tremendous roar had hit their heads which it did," said Wes Roy, a neighbor.
Inside the home, firefighters found seven other oxygen tanks. McHendrix's son had warned firefighters about them. A total of eight oxygen tanks were found in the home.
Fire officials say the injured firefighters were sent to the hospital as a precautionary measure and were released a short time later.
Neighbors say the elderly woman had been ill.
"As far as that, she had cancer and was going through chemo treatments, diabetes, so she was sick. Her son John lived here and took care of her everyday. I commend him for it.
He was here everyday for her," said Jeremy Perkins, an Independence Neighbor.
It was the son who pulled his mother safely from the fire. She died later at the hospital.
On Thursday, Perkins helped his neighbor recover whatever he could.
"I'm carrying out anything that's salvageable in the house and I'm going to hold it in my garage until he finds a place for it. It can stay there as long as he needs it to," said Perkins.
The fire remains under investigation.
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