VALLEJO, Calif. -- One of the three tenants who died in a fire at the Casa de Vallejo independent living facility in August accidentally started the blaze while smoking a cigar in a recliner near oxygen tanks he used to breathe, according to the Vallejo Fire Department's report of the blaze.

The 19-page report released Wednesday determined the fire was accidental and caused by a "careless and negligent act(s)," not limited to smoking near oxygen tanks, of a tenant, 68-year-old Robert Bennett, who probably suffered "a medical event" in Room 606.

"At some point, the victim either fell asleep, became inebriated and loss (sic) consciousness, and/or had an incapacitating medical event and then died in the act," fire Investigator Greg White said in the report.

The Solano County coroner's office determined Bennett had a blood-alcohol level of 0.28 percent, more than three times the legal limit, according to the report.

A female tenant said Bennett was reclusive and had not come out of his room since January. She said Bennett was "an extreme alcoholic" and drank hard liquor such as vodka and gin, according to the report.

Bennett reportedly preferred using oxygen tanks with a nasal cannula that allowed him to drink instead of using a noisy oxygen-generating machine that required him to wear a mask. The tenant said when Bennett woke up at night he would drink and fall back to sleep.

Bennett's room was the origin of the fire that caused $6 million damage and displaced more than 100 tenants.

John Argente, 74, in Room 608 and Harold Fortune, 61, in Room 617 also perished in the four-alarm fire at the seven-story complex Aug. 15.

The report said a manual fire alarm system was being upgraded to add strobe devices and a new fire alarm control panel at the time of the fire.

The fire alarm contractor, SimplexGrinnell, disabled the onsite horn and strobe devices in June, two months before the fire, without permission of and notification to the Vallejo Fire Department, according to the report.

"At the time of this fire, no fire alarm system devices sounded (except a beep at the fire alarm panel itself) to enable occupants to be alerted when the fire alarm system was activated. However, the fire alarm system was being off-site monitored at the time of the fire," the report states.

Shannon Hash, designer of SimplexGrinnell said fire alarm pull stations were still "live" but not the horn or strobe devices at the time of the fire. He said his company was notified of a pull station activation on the fifth floor around 3:55 a.m., according to the report.

The Vallejo Fire Department arrived at 3:42 a.m., four minutes after the first 911 call, spokesman Bill Tweedy said in August.

SimplexGrinnell was waiting for the owners of Casa de Vallejo to sign off on the off-site monitoring agreement for the fire alarm system, the report states. He said it was signed July 27 and SimplexGrinnell received it Aug. 4.

Vallejo fire Chief Russ Sherman said even though the strobes and horns were not functioning at the time of the fire, the alarm company was notified of the fire.

The report recommends automatic fire sprinkler coverage in all areas of the facility for maximum coverage and tying in individual smoke detectors in tenants' rooms to the fire alarm system.

It also recommends smoke detectors in all corridors, heat detectors in public restrooms and laundry rooms and monitoring the fire sprinkler system and the hood and duct extinguishing system.

A representative from Logan Property Management, which operates Casa de Vallejo, could not be reached for comment on the report and its recommendations.