At Least 15 Die as Fire Sweeps Retirement Home in Tennessee

Fire swept through a 10-story retirement home Christmas Eve, killing at least 15 people, and more were believed dead, authorities said. At least 26 people were injured.

Firefighters were still battling spot fires and smoke late Sunday as rescuers hunted for people who might be trapped in the John Sevier Retirement Center, Linda Gordon, the city’s community relations director, told a news conference.

A temporary morgue was set up at the Washington County Courthouse in this eastern Tennessee city.

“We are preparing for 50 people at this point,” said John Charlton, a rescue worker. “It could be four more, it could be 40 more. We really don’t have a handle on it.”

“It is a tragedy . . . . Smoke is still emitting from each floor. We have personnel on each floor searching for residents and trying to finish evacuation of the building,” Gordon said late Sunday.

Workers expected to find more bodies once the blaze was extinguished, Charlton said.

About 145 people were living at the center, but authorities said they did not know how many were in the building at the time of the fire.

“But it being Christmas Eve, many residents were out of the building visiting families and many relatives were visiting at the center,” Gordon said.

The names of those confirmed dead were not released pending notification of relatives. At least 26 people were admitted to hospitals for smoke inhalation or observation, and at least one of them suffered serious burns, spokesmen said.

The cause of the fire was not immediately known, but it apparently started on the second floor, officials said.

Firefighters and rescue workers battled the blaze in temperatures that only reached the teens.

A basement rescue station was set up across the street at Munsey Memorial United Methodist Church, where medical workers treated residents initially. The American Red Cross set up an information center for relatives in the church auditorium.

The fire is the second at the center within recent weeks. The earlier fire was confined to one unit, but the building was evacuated.

Johnson City is about 100 miles northeast of Knoxville.