Fire officials say cooking left unattended is to blame for a deadly fire that killed an 83-year-old bedridden woman and her adult son in central Georgia Thursday.

The fire in Cochran, about 40 miles south of Macon, was ruled accidental, according to a spokesman for Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner Ralph Hudgens.

“An arson investigator with his office determined that the fire started as a result of unattended cooking on the stovetop,” spokesman Glenn Allen said in a statement.

The fire broke out about 4:40 p.m. Thursday at a rental home in the 200 block of W. Peters St.

Elmon Lee Jackson and her son, 53-year-old Larry Jackson, were killed.

“A caretaker at the home for the day was able to escape the blaze when she was pushed out the door to safety by Mr. Jackson,” Allen said.

Their deaths bring the number of people killed in Georgia fires in 2018 to 65, he said.

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Bob Banks is an actor, known for Supercool (2021), Outer Banks (2020), The Vampire Diaries (2009-2017), Antwone Fisher (2002), Love Crimes (1992), Midnight Edition (1993), Daddy’s Little Girls (2007) Selma, Lord, Selma (1999), In the Heat of the Night (TV Series) (1991-1993), and I’ll Fly Away (TV Series) (1991-1992). Bob is an accomplished Voice Over (VO) Actor and lives in Atlanta, GA.

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Corbin Spencer, right, field director of New Georgia Project and volunteer Rodney King, left, help Rueke Uyunwa register to vote. The influential group is shutting down after more than a decade. (Hyosub Shin/AJC 2017)

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