by KYW's Pat Loeb

Philadelphia fire officials say tin foil in a microwave oven started a fire that claimed the life of an elderly blind woman.

Authorities say 80-year-old Nicole Swaayze was pronounced dead in her fourth floor apartment in the Katie B. Jackson senior facility in West Philadelphia on Thursday night.

Fire officials say she put food wrapped in aluminum foil into the microwave. It sparked a fire that spread to the rest of her apartment.

The fire was contained to Swaayze's unit, but the 59 other apartments were briefly evacuated.

Lesley Brown is one of the residents:

"The alarms went off, but they go off so often until a lot of times we don't pay it any mind. But this time it was serious, with the smoke."

A housing authority official says, normally, an aide cooked for Swaayze.