Local News in Brief : Laguna Hills : Leisure World Fire Takes Woman’s Life

A 78-year-old woman died in a fire in her apartment in Leisure World of Laguna Hills, but the victim’s body was discovered until hours after her death, the Orange County Fire Department reported Thursday.

Had she had a smoke detector in her home, her life might have been saved, a county fire official said Thursday. Her neighbors had not even realized that there had been a fire.

The victim’s identity was not made public pending notification of relatives. She lived in the 600 block of Avenida Sevilla.

Capt. Patrick McIntosh, a Fire Department spokesman, said the blaze apparently started late Wednesday night from a cigarette discarded in a kitchen trash can, then spread through most of the apartment.

But it wasn’t until about noon Thursday, he said, that neighbors found the woman’s body on the floor of her bathroom. The victim lived alone.

No other apartments were damaged, said McIntosh, who added: “We think she was asleep in her bedroom with the door closed. Apparently she was awakened by the fire, and upon opening the bedroom door was met by intense head and flames.”

McIntosh said the woman apparently fled into the bathroom to escape the flames but was overcome by heat and smoke and died in that room. An autopsy will fix the exact cause of death.

McIntosh estimated damage to the apartment at $10,000.