A Rossville man died during a house fire this morning.
When Walker County firefighters arrived at the house on Ridgeland Road at 5:45 a.m., they were told by neighbors that 49-year-old Barton Lee Hicks could still be inside, said the county’s Fire Chief Randy Camp.
A section of the roof had already collapsed and the flames appeared to be burning for at least an hour, Camp said.
Six firefighters attempted a rescue, but after 15 minutes of searching the home, another section of the roof collapsed. Camp said he made the call for the rescue team to leave the house.
“It’s a tough decision to make at the time,” he said. “But there was no doubt in my mind when we arrived on the scene if somebody was inside they were already deceased.”
Firefighters found Hicks in a bedroom where a section of the roof had first collapsed, Camp said.
Read tomorrow’s Times Free Press for complete details.