Damage from the fire at the funeral home (Picture: WCPO)

A funeral home was badly damaged in a fire after they tried to cremate an ‘overly obese’ corpse.

The fire started at the Hillside Chapel Crematory on Tuesday night in Cincinnati, Ohio.

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Don Catchen, owner of the funeral home, said flames from a cremation spread outside a furnace when the fire got too hot in what he describes as a ‘freak accident.’

He said: ‘My operator was in the process of cremating remains and (the body) was overly obese and apparently it got a little hotter than the unit is supposed to get.


‘One of the cremation containers that we had close got caught on fire and that’s what burnt.’

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Fortunately nobody was injured and the crematorium is well protected in case of fire (Picture: WCPO)Firefighters put out the blaze and no one was hurt, according to the Associated Press

Mr Catchen told WCPO-TV that fireproofing measures at the business limited the damage and the spread of the flames to one area, and no other bodies were affected.

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He told WCPO-TV: ‘The containers that we use — that we have to place the remains in to cremate them — that’s the only thing that’s burnt.

WLWT-TV reports that a vent pipe was damaged, and the flames spread to roof material and some cardboard boxes, creating an estimated $30,000 in damage.