A woman remained in stable condition Saturday following a house fire that claimed the life of her mother and propelled her through the front window of the burning house. The adult daughter would have also perished if she had not been awakened by her mother, investigators say.
Shandra Procelle, 62, was pronounced dead at the scene. The state medical examiner determined Saturday her cause of death was related to the fire.
The fire started just after 10 p.m. Friday in the mother's bedroom near 1400 West and 900 South, said Salt Lake City Fire spokesman Scott Freitag. The cause of the fire was accidental, started either by unattended candles or smoking, Freitag said.
The house did not have any smoke detectors. Procelle woke up after the fire started and began yelling, waking up her daughter who was asleep in another room, Freitag said.
The daughter tried to go into her mother's bedroom to help but the flames were already too intense, he said.
"One firefighter said this was one of the fastest-moving and hottest-burning fires he had ever seen," Freitag said.
The daughter could not enter her mother's room and then became lost because of the thick smoke. She was able to punch a hole in one of the windows. The pressure from the fire threw the woman through the window once the hole was made, Freitag said.
The woman suffered severe lacerations but still tried to go back into the house to help her mother, trying every door and window. But the fire was too hot, Freitag said.