The Sunday night house fire that killed a West Knox County father and son apparently started in a den, but investigators say they still don't know the cause.
John Imgrund, 85, and his 44-year-old son, David, died of smoke inhalation in the late-night fire at 10820 Woody Drive, Knox County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Martha Dooley said.
The pair had lived at the home for at least the past decade, neighbors said.
Investigators determined the fire started in the home's northeast bedroom, which father and son used as a den, Dooley said.
The fire's cause remains undetermined, with evidence from the scene sent to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation crime lab for testing.
The house had at least one smoke detector, but the blaze destroyed it, Dooley said. Investigators don't know whether it worked.
A neighbor reported the fire Sunday just after 10 p.m. when he saw the flames and couldn't get anyone to answer the front door.
The blaze burned hot enough to melt part of the siding on the house next door.
Rural/Metro fire crews arrived within 10 minutes and put out the flames within about half an hour, Rural/Metro spokeswoman Kim Sepesi said.
Firefighters found the son collapsed within a few feet of the front door, witnesses said. Crews tried but failed to revive him.
Neighbors said the house had caught fire once before, but Dooley said the KCSO had no record of that fire.
Copyright 2012 - The Knoxville News-Sentinel, Tenn.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
