Five killed, 2 children survive house fire in Tennessee
BUCHANAN, Tenn. -- Five people were killed and two children escaped a house fire overnight in northwestern Tennessee.
The blaze was reported late Thursday, a few minutes before midnight in Buchanan, which is a rural area along the Kentucky state line about 100 miles northwest of Nashville. At a news conference, Henry County Sheriff Monte Belew identified the girls as 13-year-old Lilly Pollack and 8-year-old Rose Pollack.
Lilly woke up coughing in her bed in a smoky room and was able to get outside, said her family pastor, Randy Stephens of Sulphur Well Church of Christ. Lilly then heard someone calling from inside the home, so she stepped in, got Rose out and they ran to their grandmother’s house next door and called 911, the sheriff said.
“We are calling both of those individuals heroes,” Belew said.
Lilly tried to rescue the rest of her family, but couldn’t get back inside again because of the intense flames.
Paris Landing Volunteer Fire Department Chief Reggie Coles said the home was already two-thirds engulfed when firefighters arrived. The victims were likely already deceased, he said, and firefighters couldn’t get into the house because of the raging fire. Coles called it the “worst tragedy I’ve ever seen in my 40 years in the fire service.”
CBS affiliate WTVF reports that the victims were identified as Jimmy and Carrie Pollack and their three children - Jimmy Jr., age 14; Ivey, age 4; and Callie, age 3.
Officials don’t view the fire as suspicious. They are still investigating the cause, which could be faulty wiring or a wood stove.
WTVF reports that firefighters did not find any fire alarms or smoke detectors inside the family’s home. Photos posted on TV websites show a blackened, partially collapsed structure surrounded by children’s toys.
Stephens, who spoke with Lilly after the fire, said she’s an “outstanding young lady” who is going to be OK, even though she’ll struggle with the loss of her family.
“She’s still in shock, very much so, I think,” Stephens said. “And she’s just doing what she feels like she has to do to help grandmother, and also to try to get ready for her little sister to come home.”
Lilly and Rose will be living with their grandmother. The sheriff’s office set up a donation account in the grandmother’s name at a local bank. “We’re a small rural, west Tennessee county, and that’s kind of what we do, is we help each other,” Belew said.
“It’s a tough day in Henry County. I can’t think of any time that we’ve lost five Henry Countians in such a tragic event.” But it could’ve been a completely different story if the family had smoke detectors, the sheriff said.
“There’s some things that we need to just take care of,” he added.