DUNDALK, Md. — Baltimore County Fire Department confirm that a 58-year-old man was killed early Thursday morning in a trailer fire.
According to tweets, at a little before 4:20 a.m., fire crews were called to the 3700 block of North Point Road in Dundalk for reports of a trailer fire. The victim, Herbert William Mullens, lived in the trailer and firefighters found him dead in the living room.
#BCoFD crews were dispatched to the 3700 block of North Point Rd in #Dundalk for a trailer on fire at 0418. Crews made one rescue of an occupant and the fire was extinguished at 0429. ^TR
— Baltimore County Fire Department (@BaltCoFire) February 4, 2021
Baltimore County Police fire investigators determined that Mullens had been smoking while using home medical oxygen.
Medical oxygen adds a higher percentage of oxygen to the air a person uses to breathe. It is a common factor in serious fire injuries and fatalities because it causes materials to ignite more easily and make fires burn more quickly than normal. The National Fire Protection Association advises, "Persons who use medical oxygen should not smoke."
Crews had the fire extinguished at 4:29 a.m.
