Victim in Reno brush fire died of smoke inhalation
RENO -- An elderly woman found dead in a home after a rare January brush fire raged through a scenic valley south of Reno died of smoke inhalation, the Washoe County medical examiner's office concluded.
June Hargis, 93, died from "inhalation of products of combustion," said Elizabeth Beadle, a medical examiner's investigator. The cause of death was delayed while experts awaited the results of toxicology tests, the Reno Gazette-Journal reported.
The Washoe Drive Fire, which broke out Jan. 19, destroyed 29 homes, prompted the evacuation of 10,000 people and burned nearly five square miles. The blaze was started by a man who acknowledged improperly disposing of hot fireplace ashes outside his Washoe Valley home on a day when strong winds buffeted the region and the landscape was tinder dry.
The man has not been identified, and no charges have been filed. He was described by officials at the time as "overcome with remorse."
Hargis lived in a studio apartment next to the home of her daughter, Jeannie Watts. Both buildings were destroyed by flames, as was Watts' barn. Three horses that were inside the barn died.
Watts said she believed some action should be taken against the man responsible for starting the blaze.
"At first I felt sorry for the guy that started it," she told the newspaper. "Now I feel like he murdered my mother and my horses. I think he should pay some kind of price for that."
