February 3, 2000
Web posted at: 5:40 p.m. EST (2045 GMT)

(CNN) -- Novelist Kurt Vonnegut, hospitalized since Sunday night in a New York City burn unit following a fire at his home, remained in critical but stable condition Thursday, a hospital spokeswoman said.

The 77-year-old writer is suffering from smoke inhalation injuries and is currently in the burn intensive care unit of New York Weill Cornell Center, hospital spokeswoman Alise Goldson told CNN.com earlier this week.

The fire started in a fourth-floor study of Vonnegut's Manhattan brownstone. A neighbor spotted the blaze and helped alert Vonnegut and his family to its presence.

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Kurt Vonnegut hospitalized

According to New York Fire Department officials, the call was received at 7:09 p.m. Sunday. Fourteen units, with 62 firefighters, responded to the blaze at the East 48th Street brownstone. The fire was brought under control within 15 minutes, and caused only minor damage.

Vonnegut had been watching the Super Bowl in the study, but was downstairs when the fire started, fire officials said.

Vonnegut is the author of 14 novels including "Mother Night," "Cat's Cradle," Slaughterhouse-Five" and the 1997 bestseller "Timequake." He has also written four non-fiction books. Vonnegut also spends times as a lecturer and a teacher.