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Husband thinks cigarette butt sparked fire that killed Henrico woman

Posted at 3:17 PM, Feb 09, 2017
and last updated 2017-02-09 18:47:11-05

HENRICO COUNTY, Va. -- Officials identified the woman killed in a Highland Springs house fire as 53-year-old Tammie K. Lubold.

Firefighters found Lubold's body inside her burning A.P. Hill Avenue home at about 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.

"The first units arrived in just over six minutes to find story-and-a-half home with heavy fire coming from the front side. Because of the report that someone may still be inside, firefighters rapidly pushed their way through the flames with a hose line to begin to conduct a search. They were joined by additional firefighters from the ladder truck," Henrico Fire spokesman Capt. Taylor Goodman said. "[Lubold] was quickly located, but had unfortunately already succumbed to her injuries. Firefighters continued to search the rest of the home, but no other victims were found. The fire was brought under control in about 45 minutes."

Leon Lubold, the victim's husband, said they were renting the home and had no renters, health or life insurance.

Lubold said he left the home to pick up dinner, and returned to find this house fully engulfed in flames.

The 59-year-old said his wife smoked and recently suffered from a stroke that paralyzed the right side of her body.

Lubold believes a cigarette butt may have started the fire.

Henrico fire officials have not confirmed a cause, but did say it appears the home did not have working smoke detectors.

Both the cause of the fire and Lubold's cause of death remain under investigation.

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