By Wayne Laepple
NORTHUMBERLAND -- A fire that may have started in the kitchen of a Point Township bungalow killed a 22-year-old woman early Friday morning.
Heather Marie Bailets was the sole occupant of the small house at 558 Ridge Road. She died of carbon monoxide toxicity, said James F. Kelley, Northumberland County coroner.
Forensic odontology -- which compares post-mortem dental X-rays with ante-mortem X-rays -- identified Bailets during an autopsy Friday at Lehigh Valley Hospital in Allentown, Kelley said.
Ross Blain, assistant fire chief in Point township, said a trucker en route to the nearby Furman Foods plant reported the blaze at 1:56 a.m. The house is in a small hollow surrounded by trees and is not visible from any other homes.
"I live a mile or so up Ridge Road, and by the time I got here at 1:59 the front porch was fully involved with flames rolling up to the second floor," Blain said.
Firefighters attempted to enter the rear of the house, but were driven back by intense flames and heat. The second floor had begun to collapse, Blain said, which posed a danger to further attempts to enter the house.
The entire interior of the bungalow was charred, with even the wall studs nearly burned through.
Furniture visible through the walls, including a bed on the second floor, was heavily charred.
Outside, the victim's Subaru Forester showed the effects of the fire's heat. Side panels had melted away and the clear coat on the doors was scorched brown.
Bailets was found on the first floor of the house, state police fire marshal Norman Fedder said.
Her body was taken to Lehigh Valley Hospital for an autopsy in an attempt to make positive identification.
Firefighters found Bailets' dog inside the car, Blain said. They aren't sure how the dog got there or why Bailets apparently went back into the house.
Fedder said his preliminary investigation shows that the blaze appeared to have started in the left-front corner of the house, where the kitchen was located. Damage to the house was extensive, Fedder said.
Conditions may delay a thorough inspection because of safety concerns inside the unstable structure, Fedder said.
Between 25 and 30 firefighters from Point Township and Northumberland fire companies were on the scene until about 5:30 a.m., Blain said. One firefighter suffered a minor injury but refused treatment at the scene.
Water was available from a hydrant a few hundred feet down Ridge Road and from another near the Point Township building about a quarter mile away, Blain said.
In addition to firefighters, Kelley was assisted by chief deputy coroner James R. Gotlob, deputy coroner Barry Leisenrig, and Point Township police.
Bailets becomes the fifth Valley resident -- all from Northumberland County -- to die in a fire in 2008.
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