Accidental fire claims two lives

The Sentinel-Record/Richard Rasmussen AFTERMATH: An unidentified CenterPoint Energy gas company employee works around the gas meter near the burned-out back windows of Apt. 8 at 115 Wade St. on Thursday. Two local women died in the apartment following a fire in one of the bedrooms Wednesday night.
The Sentinel-Record/Richard Rasmussen AFTERMATH: An unidentified CenterPoint Energy gas company employee works around the gas meter near the burned-out back windows of Apt. 8 at 115 Wade St. on Thursday. Two local women died in the apartment following a fire in one of the bedrooms Wednesday night.

Despite what Hot Springs Fire Chief Ed Davis called a "valiant" lifesaving effort, two Hot Springs residents died in an accidental fire that was confined to a single bedroom in an apartment at 115 Wade St. Wednesday night.

Hot Springs police identified the victims as Mary Elizabeth Davis, 58, and Yolanda Davis, 37. A police department incident report noted Garland County Coroner Stuart Smedley determined there was no foul play involved.

When the Hot Springs police and fire departments were called to the scene at around 7:55 p.m. Wednesday, smoke was coming from the rear of the complex, the incident report stated. It said firefighters began knocking on doors to locate the source of the smoke, and discovered it was coming from Apt. No. 8, but they had difficulty making entry because of the deadbolt lock on the door.

Chief Davis said the department initially received a report of a structure fire at 100 Cypress Alley and Silver Street.

He said the crew of Hot Springs Fire Department Engine 1 found a "working fire" in Apt. 8 when it arrived on Wade Street, forced the front door open and began a systematic search, quickly locating Yolanda Davis. At about the same time, the crew of HSFD Truck 5 found and removed Mary Davis.

Yolanda Davis was lying in front of the front door, and Mary Davis was found in one of the apartment's two bedrooms. Both were unresponsive, and fire department and LifeNet personnel attempted unsuccessfully to revive them, the police report said.

"There was a very valiant effort that was made to give CPR and revive the victims. It was very impressive to watch ... they gave it their all," Chief Davis said of the resuscitation efforts.

The fire was in a bedroom located across the apartment from the bedroom where Mary Davis was located, according to the police and fire departments.

Hot Springs Fire Marshal Tom Braughton said his fire scene investigation discovered evidence of a glass ashtray on a bed, along with cigarette butts in the area and cigarette packages next to the bed.

"We don't believe it was a suspicious fire at all," and was not intentionally set, Braughton said Thursday morning.

"It was confined into one bedroom. We were able to rule out all electrical sources in that bedroom, so once we did that, the next things we look for are: were they smoking in the bedroom, were there candles in the bedroom? Stuff like that."

Given the evidence of cigarette use at the scene, "it kind of points in that general direction," Braughton said.

A hard-wired smoke detector was located in the living room, plugged in, but Braughton said he could not determine whether it was activated by the fire.

"I asked our firemen if they were aware of it going off, and they said they don't remember it going off, but they weren't for certain."

Braughton said the department still wants to interview family members to gather background about the victims.

Chief Davis said the fire damage to the structure itself was "pretty light," confined to the bedroom, the adjacent bedroom and hallway. The rest of the apartment sustained smoke damage. The surrounding apartments also had light smoke damage. The fire department evacuated the apartments on either side of Apt. 8 Wednesday night.

The vast majority of the Hot Springs Fire Department firefighters are EMTs, and some single firefighters are also paramedics. All firefighters, including the four or five who are not EMTs, have received first responder training, he said.

"So everyone is capable of doing CPR. All of the firefighters are capable of operating the defibrillator. All of the firefighters are capable of the ABCs, the maintenance of airway, breathing and circulation. Whenever we go to an incident" and a subject is not responding, the other firefighters can still take basic action and increase their chances of survival, according to Chief Davis.

Local on 01/20/2017

Upcoming Events