The elderly Chesterton woman badly burned last week after accidentally
setting her clothes on fire has died.
Joyce Weaver, 77, died on Friday at the University of Chicago Medical
Center, Fire Chief Mike Orlich confirmed today.
At 4:10 p.m. Aug. 20, Weaver was smoking a cigarette in the living room of
her home on Windridge Drive, at the same time she was breathing tank oxygen
through a nasal cannula, when her clothing ignited.
Weaver’s daughter was able to pat out the flames herself--suffering minor
burns to her hands in the process--but Weaver sustained burns over 30 to 35
percent of her body: on her torso, her arms, and her lower face and ears.
Weaver was transported to Porter Regional Hospital and later airlifted to
UCMC.
Oxygen is not itself flammable but it intensifies and accelerates fire and
the high concentration of it had probably saturated Weaver’s clothing and
hair, making them very flammable, Orlich said at the time.
A full obituary appears on the back page.
of this edition of the Chesterton Tribune.