101-Year-Old Woman Dies When Stovetop Fire Spreads To Clothes

MELROSE (CBS) – A 101-year-old woman was killed in a tragic fire at her home in Melrose.

She was cooking in her kitchen on Grove Street Wednesday afternoon when a fire broke out on the stovetop.

The flames spread to the countertops and then to her clothes, according to State Fire Marshal Peter Ostroskey.

Investigators said there were no working smoke alarms in the two-family home, but they said it's impossible to know if alarms would have made a difference because the flames spread to the woman's clothes.

"There have been 38 fire deaths in Massachusetts so far this year. Two have been elderly women who died in cooking fires," Ostroskey said in a statement Thursday.

The woman's name has not been made public.