By Howard Packowitz and Blake Haas
NORMAL – McLean County Coroner Kathy Yoder has named the women who died in an east Normal house fire on Wednesday afternoon.
Preliminary autopsy results indicate Judith Dawson, 76, of Normal died from carbon monoxide intoxication due to inhalation of smoke and soot due to the house fire. There was no evidence of non-fire related injury.
Normal Fire Department spokesman Matt Swaney said firefighters were called just before 3:30 p.m. to a home in the 1300 block of Baugh Drive.
Swaney said fire crews found heavy smoke inside, and quickly pulled the victim from the home. Paramedics transported the woman to Advocate BroMenn Medical Center where she was pronounced dead, according to McLean County Coroner Kathy Yoder.
Swaney said there was heavy smoke, heat, and water damage in the home. Windows were broken because of intense heat and firefighters’ efforts to ventilate the home, according to Swaney.
The last fatal fire in Normal happened August 6, 2017 when Diana McLaren Osburne, 68, died in a house fire at 1538 Hunt Drive.
It’s the first fatal fire in the town in almost two years.
The incident remains under investigation by the McLean County Coroner’s Office, Normal Police Department, and Normal Fire Department.
Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]
