News

Actions

Elderly woman in medically-induced coma after Phoenix house fire

Woman transported to burn center after PHX fire
Posted at 5:28 AM, Sep 14, 2017
and last updated 2017-09-14 22:23:10-04

A 76-year-old woman has been put into a medically-induced coma after being badly burned in a Phoenix house fire Thursday morning, family members say.

The fire started around 5 a.m. near 24th and Roosevelt streets.

Phoenix fire said the victim, identified by family as Carolyn Hinzman, was confined to her wheelchair at the time of the fire and received 2nd and 3rd-degree burns. 

According to Phoenix fire, the blaze seems to have started in the room the woman was in. 

The victim's family tells ABC15 she is in critical condition as of 2:30 p.m. Thursday afternoon, and has been placed in a medically-induced coma.

Hinzman is a retired school teacher who worked in the Isaac Elementary School District for nearly four decades.

"Most of the kids in the neighborhood called her grandma," Hinzman's daughter Beckie Morris said. "She just was that kind of a person -would help anybody who needed help even if she didn't have it."

Other family members were home at the time but were able to escape unharmed. 

Morris says she had urged her mother to move out of her cluttered, aging home.

"She lived here 70-some years," Morris explained. "It's a lot of memories and she didn't want to leave them."

The cause of the fire is under investigation. 

Stay with abc15.com and ABC15 Mobile for updates.