Millbury woman dies in weekend apartment fire

A 56-year-old woman died in her Millbury apartment Saturday night after a fire broke out, possibly due to the improper disposal of a cigarette, fire officials said.

A fire killed one person at a Millbury apartment complex and police are still investigating exactly what happened.

“A small fire in the apartment was extinguished within seconds of firefighters arriving”, the district attorney’s office said. “They opened up the bedroom door, which was involved in flames, and the fire kicked back up”, he said.

The chief said his crews were alerted at about 9 p.m. Saturday by heat detectors in the three-story building that triggered an automatic alarm.

Ruth Bourdeau, 88, who lived down the hall from
McNamara, said she was “a little tiny woman” who’d only moved in a few weeks ago. The cause of death is still to be determined by a medical examiner, Hamilton said.

Common areas on the floor of the fire were covered in soot.

“That could have made a difference”, said the fire cheif.

Third floor residents were not allowed back into their apartments until noon on Sunday.

Hamilton said the Millbury department has its own private ambulance unit, Med-Star, which sent four vehicles to the scene.