UPDATE: House Fire Caused by Cigarette Sends Elderly Couple to Hospital

The Levittown Fire Department and Nassau County Police Department's 8th Precinct responded to a fire at 68 Bobolink Lane at 12:10 a.m. Tuesday morning.

It only took about four minutes to put out, according to LFD First Deputy Chief Scott Fisher.

"It was a good knock-out," Fisher said.

Fisher said the fire was contained to the first floor bedroom in the back of the house, where it started, but there was extensive smoke damage to the home.

There was an elderly couple in the house at the time the fire broke out. The 77-year-old male had escaped by the time the first police officer responded and was outside the home, Detective Bartlett of the 8th Precinct reported, while the 66-year-old female lay unconscious on the kitchen floor.  The officer entered the burning house, picked the unresponsive woman up from the floor and carried her outside to safety.

The two occupants and the officer were transported to Nassau University Medial Center for smoke inhalation, police stated, adding that the woman was considered to be in critical condition as she arrived at the hospital, still non-responsive, but she was eventually stabilized.

The Nassau County Arson/Bomb Squad and the Nassau County Fire Marshal determined the fire started when a bed blanket came in contact with a partially extinguished cigarette in an ashtray, the 8th Precinct reported. The fire then spread from the blanket to the mattress of the bed.

In addition to the LFD, the East Meadow Fire Department provided a fast truck and the Hicksville Fire Department was standing by.