80-year-old on motorized scooter catches fire and dies at nursing home, MN cops say

Flames fatally engulfed an 80-year-old woman on a motorized scooter at a Minnesota nursing home, according to police.

First responders received a 911 call around 4:40 p.m., Jan. 6, about a fire at the Boundary Waters Care Center in Ely, the Ely Police Department said in a news release.

Ely is a roughly 100-mile drive north from Duluth.

The nursing home resident was outside when the fire began, then quickly spread, the caller told police. She was “fully engulfed before staff members were able to get (her) off the scooter,” police said.

The woman, who police have not publicly identified, was alive but badly burned when first responders arrived, police said, adding that she was taken to a local hospital before being flown to a facility in Duluth where she died from her injuries.

McClatchy News reached out to the assisted living facility for comment but didn’t immediately receive a response.

A member of the nursing home’s staff received a non-life-threatening injury, was treated at a hospital and then released, police said.

It’s not clear what caused the fire but police say the State Fire Marshal is investigating.