The Henry County home where one person died and another was badly burned had a smoke detector — but the battery had been removed, fire officials said Monday.
Fire officials also on Monday identified the 25-year-old woman killed in the blaze as Karen Prichard. Michael Haney, 15, remains in critical condition at the Joseph M Still Burn Center in Augusta, according to Henry fire Capt. Sabrina Puckett.
The blaze at the home on Highway 138 East near Redwood Valley Road was reported around 5:50 a.m. Sunday, according to Henry County Fire Chief Bill Lacy. He said firefighters arrived at the home at 5:56 a.m. and began fighting the fire when they found two people in the home.
Neighbors told Channel 2 Action News that Haney rescued his parents from the burning home, then ran back into the house to save his older sister, but neither of them made it out by the time fire crews arrived.
The only visible damage was a broken door and burned blinds hanging from a window.
A Red Cross volunteer at the scene told Channel 2 that “From what I saw, the downstairs was the main body of the fire. The upstairs was not. It was just smoke damage on the top floor,” said Matthew Lavendar of the Red Cross.
Puckett said the cause of the fire is still under investigation.
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