Smoking appears to have caused the fatal house fire that killed one person and a dog on Decatur Road on Monday afternoon, authorities said. (Photos by Tom Scott)
Smoking appears to have caused the Monday afternoon fire that killed one person and a dog, fire officials said Tuesday.
“We’re not positive yet, but (the cause of the fire) could be smoking in the living room,” Oak Ridge Fire Chief Darryl Kerley said.
Kerley said the victim’s body was taken to the University of Tennessee Medical Center for an autopsy and identification. The victim appeared to be a man, he said.
Oak Ridge Assistant Fire Chief Josh Waldo said Tuesday afternoon that the victim died in the fire.
“The fire is the cause of the death,” he said.
The Monday afternoon house fire on Decatur Road was concentrated around the living room and back porch.
Waldo said the victim appeared to be on the floor, and the fire started next to a couch. The dog was in the bathroom, he said.
The 2:35 p.m. Monday fire was concentrated around the home’s back porch and living room and sent thick gray and black smoke billowing skyward.
Kerley said it flashed over at about the time the Oak Ridge Fire Department arrived. A flashover occurs when the temperature rises to about 1,500 degrees and everything ignites, he said.
About 14 to 15 firefighters responded to the Monday afternoon blaze, and they appeared to extinguish the flames fairly quickly, possibly within a few minutes. But emergency responders, including investigators, remained on the scene several hours later.
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