Coroner identifies elderly woman who died after Bakersfield house fire

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK/KBFX) — The Kern County Coroner’s Office has identified an elderly woman who died from her injuries almost a month after a residential fire as 87-year-old Marcia Sue Karlene Smith.

The coroner’s report said that on June 22, 2026, at around 12:39 p.m., Smith was in a partial residential fire in the 2100 block of Lynwood Street in Bakersfield.

Smith died on July 20 at Kern Medical.

The report said an autopsy was conducted and the cause of death was complications of thermal burns and the manner of death was determined to be an accident.