Officials in West Virginia say that a fire at a crematorium was caused by body fat from an overweight corpse that leaked out of a cremation chamber at Cooke Funeral Home. The searing fat hit the concrete floor, causing it to burst into flames. Workers at the funeral home immediately called 911 and managed to contain the fire to the cremation room using two fire extinguishers.
The St. Albans Fire Department responded to the call and quickly put out the flames before they could cause much damage to the building. Nobody was injured in the blaze.
This is not the first time an overweight corpse has caused a fire while being cremated in West Virginia. According to the Daily News, a 500-pound body sparked a large fire at a funeral home in 2014. It took firefighters about 30 minutes to extinguish that blaze, which caused damage to the roof and furnace of the building.
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