TERRE HAUTE — Smoking a cigarette while using an oxygen tank led to the death of a North Terre Haute man who succumbed in an apartment fire Saturday evening.
Anthony D’Angelo, 57, was likely dead before his portable oxygen tank exploded during the fire, said Otter Creek Fire spokesman Bob Salman.
“He caught himself on fire,” Salman said, explaining that the oxygen tubing through which D’Angelo was inhaling oxygen apparently caught fire in his face.
An autopsy performed Monday morning by Vigo County Coroner Dr. Roland Kohr determined that the stress of the flash fire affected D’Angelo’s weakened heart and led to his death. No soot was found in his lungs, Kohr said, so he did not inhale the flames.
Salman said the victim’s son was present at the time, and tried to put out the fire, but the blaze spread to the apartment and then caused the oxygen tanks to explode.
“When we pulled up, the fire was intense inside the home,” Salman said.
D’Angelo’s son sustained minor burns in the fire, which began around 6:30 p.m. in the 3700 block of East Beulah Ave. Firefighters from seven departments responded to the blaze. Otter Creek firefighters were on the scene until about midnight.
