CLARKSDALE, Miss. (AP) -- Clarksdale authorities are investigating the cause a fire in which a 5-year-old girl died Tuesday.
Fire Chief Sylvester Thompson said the body of Kiowa Friston was found in a bedroom shortly after 11 p.m. Tuesday.
``Smoke inhalation probably claimed the child's life, but her body was badly burned because the bedroom was fully involved by the time our men arrived,'' Thompson said Wednesday.
Fire Department officials said the mother, Latasha Friston, was away from home visiting relatives in Lyon at the time of the fire.
Firefighters said a sister, Angela Friston, and her small child were in a separate room but heard ``a popping noise'' which turned out to be the explosion of some aerosol cans found in the charred bedroom.
The firefighters contained the Friston fire to the one bedroom, but the house sustained smoke damage, Capt. Willie Ratliff said.
``The first police officer arrived and found the bedroom on the northeast corner of the house full of very heavy smoke and fire,'' said police Capt. Danny Hill, chief investigator and certified fire inspector.
``The two adults who had been in another part of the house had run out of the house once it became apparent that they could not get into the fully involved bedroom,'' Hill said. ``The officer attempted to force his way into the fully involved bedroom but the heat and smoke were too intense. Once the firefighters had extinguished the fire and cleared the bedroom of smoke, they found the body.''
Hill said there has been no official ruling as to the cause and origin of the fire.
