A tragic blaze took the life of a Breckenridge woman last Wednesday when her home burst into an inferno, with the explosion and subsequent fire claiming her life and leaving her boyfriend and daughter hospitalized.
Ali Smith, 34, was identified as the victim who succumbed to the flames while her daughter, age 7, was successfully resuscitated, and upgraded to stable condition and her 35-year-old boyfriend remains in critical condition with serious burns, ABC 12 reported. The Gratiot County Sheriff's Office and Michigan State Police are currently investigating what caused the home on the 700 block of Chestnut Street to explode around 4 a.m. March 6, in a deadly event that has rocked the small Michigan community.
According to Mid Michigan Now, residents didn't hear an explosion, but the heavy smoke and flames gave witness to the tragedy; when authorities arrived, the male resident was found outside suffering from severe burns as firefighters from the Breckenridge-Wheeler Township Fire Department fought to save Smith and her child from the blaze.
An autopsy will be conducted to positively identify Smith, though authorities did not immediately indicate the timing of this procedure, early on the morning of the disaster, first responders arrived to battle the blaze that was fully engulfing the house and despite their efforts, Smith was pronounced dead at the scene, WLNS noted that some sort of explosion might have triggered the tragic event, which is still under close investigation by the Michigan State Police Fire Investigation Division.
