Mich. Nursing Home Fire Kills Two

A fire broke out at a 122-bed nursing home in far-northern Michigan, killing two people, sending at least 60 others to hospitals and forcing the evacuation of all its residents early Monday, authorities say.

Residents were taken to a nearby church and the Ishpeming Township Hall for temporary shelter, state police Sgt. Brian Graustein.

"We had to get them out because of the fire, obviously. They got out as quick as they could, then we had some local buses and then they got a couple school buses that were right close by to come and get them," Graustein told CBS radio station WWJ-AM.

A high school is a few blocks from the nursing home.

The fire was reported about 12:15 a.m. EST at the Mather Nursing Center in Marquette County's Negaunee Township, several miles west of Marquette in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and about 360 miles north of Detroit.

Bell Memorial Hospital spokesman Rich Rossway said two of the people taken there had died of smoke inhalation.

"The kind of people we're seeing are all related to smoke inhalation," Rossway said.

The nursing home has 122 beds, according to the Web site www.hospital-data.com.

Graustein said the fire was reported in two rooms at the home. Asked about the cause, he said it was too early in the investigation to say.

"It's still ongoing. They're still just trying to take care of the residents, complicated by the low temperatures," he said. "They were out in the cold until we got some buses there to transport them to a warmer shelter.

The midnight temperature was 14 degrees at nearby Gwinn, with snow falling.