An autistic man who had apparently hidden in a closet died in an overnight fire in Jackson County, authorities said.
The fire broke out shortly after 9:30 p.m. Wednesday in a double-wide mobile home on Jackson Meadow Drive in Hoschton, according to Glenn Allen, a spokesman for the state Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner’s office.
The 20-year-old man’s body was found by firefighters in a bedroom closet. “I am told by investigators that he was autistic,” Allen said.
He said the man’s 41-year-old mother has been released from a local hospital after being treated for burns to both hands.
Their names have not been released.
The blaze was the second fatal fire of the day in northeast Georgia. Earlier Wednesday, a toddler died in a fire in neighboring Barrow County.
Allen said Wednesday night’s fatality was the 92nd fire death in the state this year.
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