By Larry Hartstein and John Spink
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
PALMETTO, Ga. — Flames ripped through a Palmetto log cabin before dawn Tuesday, killing three members of a family and bringing tears to people who fought the blaze.
“This is a very small community,” a choked-up Palmetto fire Chief Henry Argo said as he briefed the news media. “I knew the family.”
Killed in the fire were an 89-year-old woman and two men in their 50s, said Glenn Allen, a spokesman for Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner John Oxendine. One of the men was in poor health, and his condition largely confined him to bed.
One woman got out of the home on Locke Street in the city’s downtown section and ran a block to a fire station in search of help.
The woman was then taken to a hospital for treatment, but Argo said he did not know what her injuries were.
Palmetto firefighters attacked the blaze with help from Chattahoochee Hills, Fairburn and Fulton County firefighters. Police kept all media a block away from the fire scene.
When firefighters arrived, “they had heavy smoke conditions throughout the structure,” Argo said.
“It was very hot,” he said. “They attempted to make entry with a hose line through the area where it was indicated to us one of the victims might be.
“The heat and fire and smoke did not allow them to advance very far into the structure.”
Argo said the type of construction contributed to the fire’s severity.
“It tends to hold the heat,” he said of the log cabin. “That, along with the interior furnishings, are, I’m sure, what contributed to the heavy fire.”
The cause of the fire was ruled an accident. Allen told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the fire was caused by “an oxygen-generating device that malfunctioned.”
Neighbors said the house was built more than 50 years ago. It was occupied by a husband and wife, along with the wife’s mother and brother. The wife’s brother was disabled, neighbor Frances Mobley said.
Mobley said the wife works for a relief organization. Officials did not release the victims’ names pending notification of relatives.
Kenneth Grubbs, who lives a block and a half away, awoke to dogs barking before daylight.
“You could tell it wasn’t normal — it sounded like a big dogfight,” Grubbs, 72, told the AJC. “I got up, looked out the window and I could see smoke coming up above the trees.”
The state fire marshal, aided by police and the medical examiner, will further probe the cause of the fire.
“We’re just in the preliminary stages of the investigation,” Argo said.
Argo could not recall the city’s last fatal fire.
“To my knowledge it has been some years since the city of Palmetto had a fire fatality, let alone multiple fatalities,” he said.
Staff writer Mike Morris contributed to this article.
Copyright 2010 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution