Woman Dies in House Fire

FOUNTAIN VALLEY —  Fire investigators are checking whether an invalid’s cigarette may have started the early morning fire that killed her Monday.

Marie Rodgers, 67, was found severely burned amid the rubble on the floor, the spot where the fire started, said Fountain Valley Fire Marshal Mark Haskell. A walker and wheelchair were found nearby, he said.

Her husband Frank, also 67, escaped unharmed.

Helen Sacchette, who lives across the street, said she saw Frank Rodgers shirtless, in shorts and carrying a flashlight trying to get into the burning house.

“He was just screaming, ‘My wife, my wife, she’s handicapped, and I can’t get her,’ ” Sacchette said. “By the time the Fire Department got there, the flames were coming out of the front door.”

James Shattles, who lived next door to the Rodgers for 35 years, said Marie had been confined to a wheelchair for a decade.

Rodgers had difficulty sleeping, so she often read and watched TV late at night, he said.

Haskell said Rodgers, a heavy smoker, customarily slept in the living room near the back of the house, while her husband slept above the garage. The victim’s husband told police that after he smelled smoke in his bedroom, he went downstairs and escaped through a door to the garage.

The fire, which was under control in about 20 minutes, gutted the downstairs portion of the house and left the upstairs area heavily smoke damaged.