Santa Rosa woman burned in apartment fire dies

SANTA ROSA, Calif.

Monica Shears, 44, suffered second- and third-degree burns to her upper body in the fire at her apartment on Jan. 16.

Firefighters found her on the ground just inside the doorway of the apartment at 3751 Sebastopol Road around 4:15 a.m.

The fire started in a bedroom at the rear of the second-floor apartment where an empty gasoline container was found, Battalion Chief Mark Basque said.

Basque said last week that the cause of the blaze had not yet been determined, and investigators were not immediately available today to give an update on the investigation.

A sprinkler system helped contain the blaze, and firefighters extinguished the flames in about five minutes, Basque said.

Shears was taken to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital then transferred to the Bothin Burn Center at St. Francis Memorial Hospital in San Francisco.

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