Third fire in three days destroys home

Published 12:00 am Thursday, December 14, 2000

LeTourneau Volunteer Firefighter Greg Gullett works to douse a house fire on Funches Road Wednesday. (The Vicksburg Post/MELANIE DUNCAN)

A Warren County brother and sister lost their home in a Wednesday morning fire on Funches Road.

Paula Grayson and Charles Duck were not at the house at 250 Funches Road when it caught fire.

Email newsletter signup

Sign up for The Vicksburg Post's free newsletters

Check which newsletters you would like to receive
  • Vicksburg News: Sent daily at 5 am
  • Vicksburg Sports: Sent daily at 10 am
  • Vicksburg Living: Sent on 15th of each month

Warren County Fire Coordinator Kelly Worthy said the cause of the fire, the third residential blaze in as many days, hasn’t been determined.

“We think it may have been a heater but we don’t know that for sure,” Worthy said. “This house is a total loss.”

A Monday morning fire on Drummond was fatal to Cletus Ruth Hadad, who was 74. Tuesday, a 5-year-old and a 14-month-old died in a mobile home blaze.

Firefighters from Fisher Ferry and LeTourneau volunteer departments responded to the Funches Road fire around 11 a.m. No one was injured.

The Tuesday night fire that led to the death of Cedric Ware, 5 and Derick Ware, 14 months, has been ruled an accident, Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace said.

An extension cord was connected to their grandmother’s house 100 yards away and was supplying electricity to a space heater and other appliances in the mobile home where the children died, Pace said.

“We will probably never know if the extension cord shorted out or if the heater malfunctioned,” he said. “We do know for sure that it started in the rear bedroom of the house.”

The family was preparing the doublewide mobile home at 75 Brady Drive as their new home.

Pace said Dante and Cedrick along with 10 other siblings were staying at their 90-year-old grandmother’s house, while their parents were in town.

“We are still in the process of interviewing everyone and finding out exactly where they were when the fire started,” Pace said.

Donations for the family can be sent to the Warren County Jail or Warren Central Intermediate School. Items being accepted include food, clothes and money.

Robbins Funeral Home has charge of arrangements.

Services for Mrs. Hadad were Wednesday. She perished in her bedroom of smoke inhalation after a fire began on the kitchen stove, investigators said.