At least one victim died during a house fire early Monday morning on Wilson Street in El Dorado, according to El Dorado Fire Department Chief Chad Mosby.
Mosby said early Monday afternoon that the fire’s cause is still under investigation for an indeterminate amount of time.
“There’s not a lot I can say at this point, because it’s still under investigation. There was a fire this morning a little before 5 [a.m.], and I was told there was a fatality involved… It is currently under joint investigation by the Fire Marshal’s Division and the detective division over at the [El Dorado] Police Department,” Mosby said, adding that such investigations are routine when a fatality occurs in a fire.
Mosby said the department was alerted to the fire at 4:54 a.m. and arrived on site to battle the blaze at 4:58 a.m.
Evidence including the victim’s remains have been sent to the Arkansas Crime Lab, and Mosby declined to speculate how long an investigation could take and said any other details are currently not available due to the open nature of the investigation.
Neighbors were out on Wilson Street surveying the home, which was badly damaged by the fire, Monday morning around 10 a.m.
A neighbor of the victim, Charles Jackson, said he woke up at around 4:45 a.m. and saw the home “engulfed” in flames.
Neighbors near the scene mentioned the name of the presumptive victim but the News-Times is currently declining to publish the given name as positive victim identification, according to Union County Coroner Stormey Primm, is left up to DNA testing by the Arkansas Crime Lab for official verification in the case of deaths involving fire.
This is a developing story and the News-Times will update it as more details arise.