Blaze Kills 5 Trapped in Basement
A fire roared through a rooming house today, killing five people trapped in the basement where residents said cardboard walls had been installed to increase occupancy.
A man who ran screaming from the south Nashville rooming house was taken to a hospital in critical condition, authorities said.
Fire Capt. Robert Shelton said firefighters who answered the alarm at 8:22 a.m. saw heavy smoke billowing from the basement windows.
“We could hear screams from the front corner of the basement but we couldn’t get to them from the door in the back,” Shelton said.
Fire Chief Fred G. Davis said that five bodies were recovered from the basement and that the victims were believed to have died from smoke inhalation.
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