Fires Claim Victims in West, Middle Tennessee
Memphis firefighters are still trying to determine the cause of a fire that killed Louise Newby, 68, early Tuesday.
Next-door neighbor Willie Rose said he was watching television when he heard an explosion about 1 a.m. He said he went outside, saw her house on fire and called out for her. He thought he heard her reply and tried to climb a chain-link fence between their yards.
``By the time I got to the top of the fence the front of the house just exploded,'' Rose said.
``I just wish I could have got to her. I hate to see someone die like that,'' he said.
The house where Newby lived with about eight cats was burned to a shell.
In the other fire at Cross Plains, about 25 miles north of Nashville, investigators space heaters might have caused a 1:30 a.m. Tuesday blaze inside a mobile home.
The victim, whose name wasn't released, was a 32-year-old man, authorities said.
``There were three heaters between him and the door,'' Robertson County Sheriff's Detective Mike Carlisle said. ``Once those things go up, it's very difficult to get out.''