Tragedy comes from house fire
Sep. 13—A house fire turned tragic as a Pauls Valley man died when he was unable to get out his burning home this past weekend.
Local authorities could not release the name of the man killed when the residence in the 300 block of North Ash was for a time filled with flames Sunday night.
No official cause of that fire and another one destroying a portion of the Swap Shop in the 400 block of North Santa Fe have yet been officially determined.
"We got to the fire pretty quick and it was already fully involved in the living room with fire coming out of the windows," Pauls Valley Fire Chief Mark Norman said about the residential fire.
The chief did confirm the deceased man was later found in the house.
On the police side local Chief Mitch McGill said no foul play is suspected as he's awaiting the man's identification to be released at some point by the state medical examiner's office.
"One occupant of the house got out of the house and one did not," he said, adding a woman was able to escape the fire.
"The man's identification will be released to us, I just don't when that will be."
McGill said in a situation like this his department has jurisdiction of the scene as the medical examiner's office and others are contacted.
"The only difference between this and another scene is the fire. If a death is involved in a fire the state fire marshal is notified," he said.
"If there's nothing leading to foul play, if there's no criminal act then we're out."
Earlier on Sept. 11 fire crews were battling a blaze that destroyed a portion of the Swap Shop located near the railroad tracks on the north side.
The damage portion is described as a warehouse or storage area.
"We're still looking at that destroyed area of the building," Norman adds.
The state fire marshal's office is still investigating the cause of both fires.
