Ford Heights man dies after clothing catches fire while cooking

(FORD HEIGHTS) A 76-year-old man died Friday night, a day after his clothes caught fire while he was cooking in his south suburban home.

Cook County sheriff’s police responded about 6 p.m. Thursday to the home in the 1500 block of Embassy Lane in Ford Heights and found resident Joe Hurley had been cooking dinner when his clothes caught fire from the stove, authorities said.

He was alert and responsive when taken to Franciscan St. James Medical Center, and was later transferred to Loyola Medical Center’s Burn Center in Maywood, Cook County sheriff’s spokeswoman Sophia Ansari said.

He was pronounced dead there on Friday at 6:04 p.m., the medical examiner’s office said.

An autopsy Sunday found Hurley died of complications from injuries from the fire, citing heart disease as a secondary cause. His death was ruled an accident.