Neighbors describe waking up to deadly Bemis house fire

JACKSON, Tenn. — One of the deadliest house fires the city of Jackson has ever seen leaves three people dead including a child.

The blaze occurred around 2:30 a.m. Wednesday at a house on B Street in the Bemis community in south Jackson.

Four others were sent to the hospital, including a 17-year-old who was airlifted to Memphis with severe burns to his hands and face.

The identities of the victims have not been released, but the Jackson-Madison County School System confirmed the child who was killed and the young person who was airlifted are students of the district. Other sources say the child who died was a student at Rose Hill Middle School.

Boards and scorched plastic now cover most of the home. Fire authorities say they haven’t found any working smoke detectors inside.

It’s a fire that residents who live nearby describe as waking up to a nightmare.

“I opened the front door and by then the fire trucks had already started arriving, and the house next door was on fire,” witness Mike Pauley said.

Pauley, who was next door, said three of the children in the home made their way to his house, one of whom was severely burned.

“He was just saying ‘I’m hurting, I’m hurting,’ but I mean you could just tell he had been burned up. I mean, the child, he was just hurt,” Pauley said.

Family members, who didn’t want to speak on camera, made their way to the house to gather personal items of their loved ones.

Those who live nearby say the entire ordeal is tough to hear about.

“I don’t like to know about any fire. That’s horrible. That just does everything to you, just upsets you all over,” witness Betty Sigler said.

Authorities say they are still working to determine what caused the fire but believe it ignited in the kitchen. They are bringing engineers in to further investigate the appliances.