An elderly Sanford man has died from burns he received when his clothes caught fire as he was standing too close to a propane heater, according to the State Fire Marshal's Office.

Joseph Albert, 77, died Sunday at Maine Medical Center in Portland. Fire Marshal John Dean said Albert was smoking in a small enclosed area on an outside porch Saturday morning at his daughter's house at 32 River St.
when the heater ignited his clothing.

Dean said it was the second fire death of an elderly person in two days. On Friday, an 82-year-old Augusta
woman, Margaret Rivers, died at her home after a hot plate ignited nearby combustibles.

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