A house fire on Vaughn Street in Wayne County, Tennessee, left a man and two children dead early Monday morning, at about 4 a.m. Monday, September 28, while a woman and another child survived and were rushed to a hospital in Nashville. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is now working alongside local emergency responders to determine what sparked the deadly blaze.
The Wayne County Emergency Management Agency confirmed that two children and a man died in the fire, according to WSMV. The surviving woman and child were transported to a hospital in Nashville, though their injuries and current conditions have not been disclosed. No other details about the fire had been released as of Monday, per the same report.
TBI Steps In to Determine Cause and Origin
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is looking into the cause of the fire, the station's report notes. The TBI says its fire investigators respond to destructive fires and fatalities and work with local jurisdictions to determine the cause, origin, and circumstances of fires.
In July, State Rep. Kip Capley announced $1.35 million in Volunteer Firefighter Equipment and Training Grant funding for 27 departments in Lawrence, Wayne, Maury, and Hardin counties, including awards for Wayne County's Clifton, Collinwood, and Buffalo River volunteer fire departments, according to the Tennessee House Republican Caucus.
Fall and Winter Bring Heightened Fire Risk Statewide
Cold weather months in Tennessee see a 70 percent increase in home fire fatalities compared to other seasons, according to data from the Tennessee Department of Commerce & Insurance and the State Fire Marshal's Office. The state agency also operates the Get Alarmed, Tennessee! free smoke alarm program, which has installed over 290,000 smoke alarms and documented 510 saved lives since its 2012 launch, per the Tennessee Department of Commerce & Insurance.
Whether smoke alarms were present or functioning inside the Vaughn Street home has not been addressed by investigators.
No indication that the Wayne County fire is being treated as suspicious has been released.
The toll-free Arson Hotline, 1-800-762-3017, is a partnership between the TBI and the Tennessee Advisory Committee on Arson (TACA), offering cash rewards for tips that lead to arrests in suspicious structure fires. The official cause and origin of the Vaughn Street fire, along with the condition of the two survivors in Nashville, remain undetermined as the investigation continues.
