A woman died Monday after after a fire at her home on Suszek Road, just south of U. S. 12 and just inside the Cass County line.
Deputies with the Cass County Sheriff's Department said Arlene Kern, 64, collapsed from a medical condition unrelated to the fire.
Capt. Lyndon Parrish said Henry Kern, 36, of White Pigeon, started a fire in a wood-burning stove at the residence about 5:45 p.m. and a structural problem caused the fire to spread to a wall. The flames spread from there to a propane tank that exploded, further fueling the blaze.
Police said Kern's parents, Arlene and 68-year-old Rondell Kern, of White Pigeon, arrived home just as the fire began. Henry Kern managed to escape without injuries but his mother died at the scene, possibly from a heart attack, Parrish said.
Parrish said the residence was destroyed. Although investigation is continuing, there's "nothing suspicious,'' he said, as far as the cause of the blaze.
