A 57-year-old home health nurse died early Saturday morning when her home was engulfed in flames.
Kannapolis firefighters found the body of Lois Kay Deaton Lisk about two feet from the bed in the Laura Avenue house just after 4 a.m. Saturday.
Rowan EMS personnel performed CPR at the scene and while transporting her to NorthEast Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.
Kannapolis Fire Chief Larry Phillips said the fire apparently started from a cigarette inadvertently dropped on the sofa hours earlier. The fire smoldered, building up smoke and heat, and eventually burst into flames.
A neighbor spotted flames coming out of the house around 4:12 a.m. and called 911.
Arriving firefighters found heavy flames coming out of the front of the single-story brick house.
Capt. David Winecoff, Brent Hucks and Mike McVay searched the house. The firemen found Lisk in a bedroom on the opposite side of the house from the living room.
A few neighbors gathered in the light rain as EMS personnel tried unsuccessfully to get any response from Lisk. Phillips said Lisk had moved into the house, just off Moose Road, about a month ago. The house, owned by Virginia Collins of Rockwell, had smoke detectors. The fire chief said investigators don’t know if the devices were working.
Family members told officials that Lisk, whose death came just a week before her 58th birthday, was a smoker.
Lady’s Funeral Home of Kannapolis is handling arrangements.
The house was heavily damaged but no dollar estimate of damage was available.
Lisk became the second fire fatality in Kannapolis this year. Both were apparently caused by cigarettes.
In February, 50-year-old Roger Lewis Davis died in a fire at 1312 Browdis St.
Firefighters said Davis, a disabled man, was a heavy smoker. That fire apparently started from a burning cigarette dropped on a couch, according to fire officials.
Contact Jessie Burchette at jburchette@salisburypost.com
or call 704-797-4254.
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