No working smoke alarm in Forsyth Co. home where person died
Forsyth County investigators sorted through the remains of a house that burned Monday morning to find the cause of the fire that left at least one person dead.
“We’ve had investigators on scene since early in the operation,” Forsyth County Fire Division Chief Jason Shivers said about the investigation. “We have three on scene digging through the fire (remains). There is nothing to indicate what the cause or origin might be. We hope to come up with some answers soon.”
Multiple calls were made to 911 around 9:30 a.m. Monday with reports of a single-story house burning. When firefighters arrived, there was smoke and flames coming out of several windows of the house in the 7700 block of Holyoke Road.
Because there was no one outside the home when trucks arrived, freighters searched inside and found the victim already dead. Shivers said the department was not releasing the name of the victim, including the gender, until relatives had been notified.
Shivers said there was a hard-wired fire alarm system in the house, but “it was an antiquated system. We’re confident it hasn’t been working for some time.” There was no backup alarm, Shivers said.
While the house did not burn to the ground, the portions still standing suffered heavy smoke damage and the structure was most likely a total loss, he said.
