SFD: Cooking fire claims life of elderly woman inside of Shreveport home

SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) — An elderly woman is dead following a cooking fire at a home in Shreveport’s Cherokee Park Neighborhood Friday evening.

According to the Shreveport Fire Department, firefighters received a call around 5:30 p.m. about a fire in the 1100 block of Englemead Drive. Battalion Chief Robert DeBusk, who was the first person on the scene of the fire, says he saw very light smoke coming from a single-story home.

SFD says Rescue 1 and Engine 2 arrived shortly after and cleared the home of smoke and secured the scene, along with the Shreveport Police Department.

Investigators learned that a woman was cooking when she burned herself. Her son, who lived across the street from her, found her body in the kitchen and extinguished the fire before SFD showed up.

SFD says the fire was very small and it took about a gallon of water to put it out. There were no working smoke detectors in the home at the time of the fire.

Citizens can be placed on a list to have smoke detectors provided and installed for FREE. Please call our Fire Prevention Office at 318-673-6740 to take advantage of the program. SFD discourages cooking with loose clothing and/or hanging garments.