Wayne Fire Fatal Victim, Cause Identified

Police have identified the 76-year-old man killed in an early morning fire Monday in Wayne as Bernard Kerrigan.

Fire Marshal Don Wood ruled that the accidental fire in a condominium unit on Lisa Way in Wayne was due to improperly discarded smoking materials.

The small condo complex is located at the corner of Bloomingdale and West Wayne avenues.

The next-door neighbor of the man who died, who was in his 70s but has not been identified, originally called 911 around 1 a.m. to report a chemical odor in her unit. But police found smoke coming from the unit next door, according to Radnor Fire Company Chief Jim Kelly.

Firefighters forced the door open of 5 Lisa Way and found the deceased man, who likely died of smoke inhalation and burns, Kelly said.

The fire had smothered itself with lack of oxygen, but reignited with the introduction of air. Still, it was extinguished within 15 minutes and the neighboring unit only sustained smoke damage, Kelly said.

Kelly added that had the condo been equipped with a sprinkler system, the man might have survived.