March 14--MOULTON -- A man died and his wife suffered severe burns when their mobile home caught fire early Tuesday, fire officials said.
Deputy Coroner Jeff Hill said 75-year-old Claudie Dean Fagan died in the blaze. His wife, David, is in her 70s, Lawrence County Sheriff Gene Mitchell said.
The small FEMA trailer the couple lived in behind a relative's house at 77 Lawrence County 238 was completely destroyed, Lt. Ryan Gilley of the Moulton Fire Department said.
Firefighters responded at about 3:59 a.m., but the couple apparently had tried to fight the fire themselves before calling for help, Gilley said.
"It was on the ground by the time we got there. Those things aren't made of much," he said.
Gilley said the woman was initially taken to Lawrence County Medical Center, but "she had pretty severe burns on her body so they took her to UAB Burn Center and, last I heard, she was listed critical."
The man's body was found in the kitchenette just inside the front door, Gilley said.
"(His wife) had made it out, but he had either gone back to get something or just never made it out," Gilley said.
Gilley said the fire apparently started in the kitchenette, near or in the stove, which was possibly left on.
About an hour before the fire, the woman woke to find her husband in the kitchen and ushered him back to bed, Gilley said. They woke later to find the kitchen on fire and called their children for help.
"I think they tried to put it out themselves while it was still small but couldn't get a handle on it," Gilley said, "and by the time they called us, it was out of control."
Hill said the cause of Fagan's death had not been officially determined. His body was sent to the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences for autopsy.
"Nothing appears to be out of the ordinary," Assistant State Fire Marshal Scott Pilgreen said. "It's still under investigation, but at this point there's nothing to suggest that it's unusual."
Copyright 2012 - The Decatur Daily, Ala.
