UPDATE: Whitley County Fire Claims Two Lives
(UPDATE: Whitley County Coroner Randy Dellinger has released the identities of the two men who died in the fire. The victims are Robert L. McKinzie, 58, and Frederick Karl Niemann, 54.)
A Whitley County house fire located in the 2400 block of South Barr Street in Coesse has claimed the lives of two people. The fire reportedly began around midnight on Wednesday.
According to Wane.com, officials reported that a man re-entered the home to save another man from the blaze and both perished. One body was reportedly located in the kitchen of the home and the other in a back bedroom. Wane.com reports that five people were inside the home at the time of the fire and that two children and their grandmother escaped the blaze without serious injuries.
The two children within the home reportedly alerted the grandparents to the blaze however, it is unknown whether the home had working fire alarms at the time of the fire. The home was reduced to rubble as a result of the fire. Though the home’s wood stove was noted as a possible cause for the fire, the official cause for the flames has yet to be released.
To see video and photos from the fire, click here.