By Jeremy Pittari
PICAYUNE — A structure fire on McCarthy Island Road took the life of one man and injured a woman.
The woman, Marcia Rench, was able to make it out, but suffered first and second degree burns to her legs, said Pearl River County Fire Marshal Albert Lee. However, her roommate, William Jenkins, was not so lucky.
Pearl River County Coroner Derek Turnage said the fire took the life of 54 year-old Jenkins. Rench, 58, suffered burns to her legs in the fire, said Lee.
Lee said county emergency agencies got the call about the fully involved structure fire at about 1:48 Tuesday morning. There was also reports of exploding tanks, possibly from the propane and or oxygen tanks inside the home. Lee said while a cause of the fire has not officially been determined yet, he has about three or four theories what could have caused it, all of them accidental.
Four volunteer fire departments responded to the fire, Pine Grove, Henleyfield, Nicholson and Carriere, Lee said. It took the departments about 45 minutes to an hour to extinguish the flames, but the mobile home was a total loss due to the nature of the fire.
At the time of the fire, Jenkins was sleeping on the couch; Rench was sleeping in the back bedroom.
Neighbors near the home saw and reported the fire. Jolene Miller, one of those neighbors, said she heard an explosion that night, prompting her to check out the source. When she looked out her door to see what was going on, she could see the entire home engulfed in flames. She said she called out to her family to call 911 while she ran to the home to check on the occupants.
As she neared the home, she said it was too hot to approach from the front so she went around to back. There she found Rench lying on the ground about 10 feet from the burning home. Miller said she and her nephew then picked up Rench and pulled her farther away from the flames.
“She said she fell down the steps and pulled herself from the home,” Miller said.
Rench was taken to Highland Community Hospital for treatment of her wounds, Lee said. Becky Hearb, another neighbor, said Rench was held in medical care until Tuesday afternoon and then released.
Turnage said while an autopsy is still pending, he suspects Jenkins’ cause of death will be attributed to smoke inhalation. He also said positive identification still needs to be made, even though he is almost 100 percent certain that the deceased is Jenkins. Still, he plans to cross reference medical and dental records to positively identify the body.
Jenkins was using oxygen as part of his medical treatment, and is reported to have been a smoker. There also were propane tanks and space heaters in the home. Turnage said while there is currently no proof that these factors led to the fire, he cautions county residents to be careful while using any and all of those items in their homes.
“There are safety precautions they need to take and they don’t need to mix some of these items, like smoking and oxygen,” Turnage said.
Lee also had some words of advice for county residents. He suggests that smoke detectors are checked regularly. He suggests checking them each time clocks need to be adjusted for daylight savings time.
Shane Tucker, Chief Deputy with the Pearl River County Sheriff’s Department, said foul play is not suspected at this point in the investigation. The state fire marshal is investigating the exact cause of the fatal fire.
