By Mike Linn
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
MONROE COUNTY, Ark. — A mother and son, both volunteer firefighters, died early Monday after their east Monroe County home caught fire while they were sleeping, officials said.
Gregory Davenport, 48, and his mother, Winifred “Winnie” Davenport, 71, died in their home at 14020 U.S. 49 near the Rich community 11 miles south of Brinkley.
Charles “Chucky” Davenport, Gregory Davenport’s brother, was also in the home but was able to escape the blaze. He was taken to a hospital and treated for smoke inhalation, Monroe County Judge Larry Morris said.
“They were good, hardworking people,” Morris said of the victims.
“You hate to lose anybody, but those people were really good neighbors and good people. They’d help anybody. It makes it tough on a community when you lose people, especially those kind of people.” Monroe County Sheriff Gary Henard said the cause of the fire is still under investigation. He said the sheriff’s office and the Arkansas State Police were investigating Monday but were having trouble sifting evidence because the scene remained hot from the fire.
“We did a lot of investigating [Monday], but we plan on going back out there when it cools off,” Henard said. “It’s a totally collapsed structure fire, so we haven’t been able to go over all of it.” Robert “Chick” Williams, chief of the East Monroe County Volunteer Fire Department, said Chucky Davenport was able to get out of the house at 2:53 a.m. and call 911.
Within a minute or two, firefighters were on the scene. The Fire Department is about a quarter mile from the Davenport home, Williams said.
“It was fully engulfed when we got there, and there was smoke everywhere,” Williams said.
“The roof collapsed, and it burned plum down. All we could do was go in with water. We had no way of reaching those people.” Williams said the Davenports, along with Winnie’s late husband, Charles, were charter members of the East Monroe County Volunteer Fire Department, which started in 1990.
“When you lose a head man, a maintenance man, mechanic and firefighter who is trained to do the job, it’s a major loss for us,” Williams said. “Anytime we lose one of our brothers and sisters it hurts.” Gregory Davenport was a mechanic and worked with his brother, Jeff Davenport, at Jeff’s Repair in Brinkley, Morris said. No one answered phone calls placed to a home listing for Jeff Davenport in Biscoe or a call to Jeff’s Repair in Brinkley.
Williams said firefighters fought the fire for hours and were called back to the property at 3 p.m. Monday to put out a “hot spot” that had flared up.
Monroe County Coroner Bob Neal said he believes both victims died of smoke inhalation. He said their bodies would be sent to the State Crime Laboratory for autopsy.
Neal said he was able to retrieve Greg Davenport’s body from the home at 8:30 a.m., when he was pronounced dead. He retrieved Winnie Davenport’s body from the home at 10 a.m., when she was pronounced dead.
Copyright 2009 Little Rock Newspapers, Inc.