KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) -
A 49-year-old woman died in a house fire after food left cooking on the stove sparked a small fire that gutted the kitchen area, investigators say.
Kimberly Price, who died in the house after the fire, was the mother of a 16-year-old son who was not at home at the time, relatives say. Price lived in the house for almost 20 years.
The fire happened about 4:30 a.m. Tuesday in the 5800 block of Wabash Avenue, which is just west of Prospect Avenue and U.S. 71 Highway on the city's east side.
When firefighters arrived on the scene, they found Price unconscious on the floor inside the home just a few feet from the front door.
She was taken to an area hospital where she died.
Investigators say the fire started in the kitchen, and they believe food left cooking on the stove sparked a small fire that gutted the kitchen area.
There were smoke detectors in the house, but authorities are not sure if they were working. Price's brother doesn't think they were working because he believes she could have escaped if the alarm had gone off.
"When I came down the street they were bringing her out and the paramedics everybody was trying to do their job trying to resuscitate her," Alvin Price said. "It just broke me up, I was just tore up about it."
A man, who also was inside the home at the time, was able to get out of the house safely through a window in the back of the house.
There was about $50,000 in damages but her family says its a complete loss.
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