Woman dies after being injured in Baltimore fire last month

Incident is the 17th confirmed fire death in Baltimore this year

A 66-year-old woman has died after she was injured in a fire in the Pigtown neighborhood of Baltimore last month, fire department officials said Friday.

Louise Helmick was one of two people taken the burn unit at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center after the fire, which broke out in a two-story home in the 1300 block of W. Cross St. at around 3 a.m. on Oct. 24. She had second-degree burns and smoke inhalation, the fire department said.

She died on Nov. 7, and the medical examiner found the cause to be sepsis from the burns. The fire department is still investigating the cause of the fire.

Helmick's is the 17th fire death in Baltimore this year. The number of fire deaths has ticked up after dropping to an all-time low of 12 last year.

The fire department is still investigating how a patient at the University of Maryland Medical Center, identified as William Turner, born in 1950, died in a fire in his hospital room earlier this month. His cause of death was ruled smoke inhalation, burns and heart disease, fire officials said, making it the 18th fire-related death in Baltimore this year.

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