CRAWFORD COUNTY, Georgia — Two people who died in a house fire on Wednesday morning have been identified, according to Crawford County Fire Chief Randall Pate.
21-year-old Michael Groberg and 71-year-old Debra Kirksey died in a house fire on East Agency Street on Wednesday morning around 2 a.m.
Residents of the house called the fire department at around 2:15 a.m., but when firefighters arrived, the house was "fully engulfed," according to a press release from the fire department.
Pate said six people were in the home when the fire broke out. Four of them were able to escape. Pate said he helped connect the family to the Red Cross to help them rebuild
Investigators say they did not see a smoke detector in the home.
"Here's the thing: time is of utmost importance and the more time you have to get out, the better," Pate said. "It is imperative that you have working smoke detectors in the right place of your home."
According to Pate, the home that caught fire Wednesday morning was built in the late 1800s and he believes if they had working smoke detectors, they could have had more time to get out.
"I just really do believe that if they had working smoke detectors, they would have had a few more minutes," Pate said.
He reminds people the location of the smoke detector is very important and that just having a detector "on a bookshelf" is not enough to keep you safe.
The state fire marshal’s office is investigating the cause of the fire. Pate said Groberg and Kirksey are the fifth and sixth people to die in fires in Crawford County this year and he says that’s unusual. He says this is the largest increase he has seen in his 30-year career.
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