YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) — Fire investigators said Thursday that a woman who was killed in a blaze Wednesday at her South Side home was filling a space heater with kerosene when flames broke out.

Fire Investigator Capt. Kurt Wright said the elderly woman who died was also a smoker. She was found on the first floor where the fire broke out.

The Mahoning County Coroner’s Office is expected to release the name of the victim. A cause of death is pending, but the fire that broke out about 6:15 p.m. at her home in the 300 block of East Auburndale is being ruled accidental.

Wright said the woman had two kerosene space heaters in the home, as well as a five-gallon can of kerosene. The woman has not had gas in the home since 2008, Wright said.

This is the second fatal fire in the city in less than a week. A man was killed in a house fire early Friday morning on Oklahoma Avenue. He has been identified as 58-year-old Miles Hogan.

Wright said finding a cause for that fire will be difficult because of the deteriorating conditions of the home before the fire, which led to the second floor collapsing on the first floor. A cause of death is also pending in that fire.

These are the first fatal fires in the city this year. Wright said the city did not have a fatal fire last year or in 2020.

Ryan Hellock and Jacob Thompson contributed to this report.