A 6-year-old boy was killed early Friday in a house fire in Griffin that state officials have ruled accidental.

Franklin Freeman Jr. died in the fire, which started about 8:30 a.m. in the kitchen area of a home in the 1000 block of School Road, state Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner Ralph Hudgens said.

A neighbor and a Spalding County sheriff’s deputy pulled Freeman’s 14-year-old brother from a window. He escaped the blaze unharmed, but was taken to a hospital as a precaution, Hudgens said.

“The exact cause was an electrical malfunction in the wall near a microwave oven,” he said.

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Peggy Harris (foreground) stocks the shelves at Sandy's IGA, which is the only grocery store in town, Tuesday, October 7, 2025, in Sparta. Hancock County has one of the highest rates of childhood food insecurity in the country. (Hyosub Shin/AJC)

Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC