OCONEE, SC – Authorities say three people died in separate mobile home fires overnight in Oconee County.
Fire Chief Charlie King said in a news release that emergency dispatchers received calls around 9:12 p.m. Sunday of a fire on Brooksmoore Road near Walhalla. Crews arrived within five minutes and brought the fire under control in about 30 minutes.
Neighbors told them two adults lived in the home.
While investigators were searching the debris of the destroyed home to see if any lives had been lost, the Oconee County 911 Center received calls about another fire on Seneca Creek Road. Those calls were received shortly before midnight.
King said firefighters were able to bring that fire under control in about 20 minutes, he said.
Neighbors told firefighters that while the house on Seneca Creek Road was vacant, people did come and go from the home and live there.
Early this morning, King said the area is safe and said that it’s too early to tell if the fire is suspicious. There was reportedly no electricity to the house.
A short time later, King announced that two bodies were found at the fire on Brooksmore Road. He said one body was found at the fire on Seneca Creek Road.
The fire victims’ names have not been released.
The Oconee County Coroner’s Office and S.C. Law Enforcement Division are investigating both fires.
He said crews will begin to dig through the debris to determine what caused the fire at sunrise.
