Fire Claims Woman's Life in Mosheim, Tennessee
January 20, 2014
The victim's name was not immediately available. The victim was 58, said Anthony Ball, Midway Volunteer Fire Department chief.
Ball was first on scene after the fire was reported at 5:16 a.m.
"We were dispatched this morning to a structure fire. The call came in from a passerby that the structure was 100 percent involved," Ball said. "I was first at the scene and found the structure to be 50 percent involved. There was a fatality at the residence."
The fire started in the back of the two-story, wood frame house. The victim was found deceased in an upstairs hallway by a Midway firefighter.
"Once we were able to confirm the house was occupied we did a quick sweep of the scene. We sent (firefighters) in and did locate her at that point," Ball said.
The interior of the house was destroyed in the fire, Ball said. Most of the structure was gutted.
"We confined it to the house. None of the outbuildings were destroyed," Ball said.
The house was an older structure, he said.
"Just the way the house was built with several different floors and the walls, it really was a difficult fire to get (to) the hot spot," he said.
The fire was brought under control shortly after 7 a.m. Assisting Midway firefighters at the scene were the Mosheim Volunteer Fire Department, the Town of Mosheim Fire Department and the DeBusk Rehab Unit.
Greene County-Greeneville EMS was also on scene, along with the Greene County Sheriff's Department.
The cause remains under investigation. Arson investigators were at the house this morning as firefighters continued to extinguish hot spots.
About 12,000 gallons of water were used to extinguish the blaze, Ball said.