Elderly couple dies in Arlington Heights fire

An elderly couple died after a fire broke out in their Arlington Heights home Thursday morning, the third fatal fire in the northwest suburbs in recent weeks.

A neighbor called 911 about 8:20 a.m. to report smoke and flames coming from the back of a single-family home in the 1900 block of North Spruce Terrace, Arlington Heights fire officials said in a statement.

Lewis Smith, 75, and Joan Smith, 72, were pulled from the home by firefighters and taken to Northwest Community Hospital, where they were pronounced dead, Arlington Heights police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office said.

Autopsy results said they died of thermal and inhalation injuries, and ruled their deaths an accident.

Firefighters found the couple on the top level of the home, Division Chief David Roberts said in an email. One victim was in a hallway and the other in a bedroom.

The fire, which likely started in the kitchen, took about 25 minutes to extinguish, Roberts said. There were no other injuries.

The northwest suburbs has seen two other fatal fires in the last two weeks. On Tuesday, a woman and her husband were found dead inside their Inverness home. Last week, a mother and her four children died in a fire in their home in Des Plaines.

Arligton Heights police