Fire claims woman: Rockford resident trapped inside her mobile home

By Jessica Stith
of The Daily Times Staff

A woman who was trapped in her residence for at least 18 minutes as it burned died as a result of her injuries sustained during the fire on Tuesday.

According to the Blount County Sheriff's Office, Freda Carol McGaha, 46, Tammy Circle, Rockford, was pronounced dead at University of Tennessee Medical Center.

Blount County Fire Chief Doug McClanahan said the department received a call of a trailer fire at 3:17 p.m. on Tammy Circle off of Cusick Road.

Fred Carrell was at Linda Sandstrom's residence next door to the trailer that caught fire and said he noticed smoke coming from the side of the mobile home. He said he yelled for another neighbor to call 9-1-1.

Mary Sage, who was also visiting at the residence next door, said she attempted to get people out of the burning trailer.

"I pushed the door open," Sage said.

She said a woman inside the mobile home told her, "My sister's in here, my sister's in here."

"I said, 'Well, get out of here and I'll see if I can find her.'

"I couldn't find her. I hollered for her and everything."

When firefighters arrived at 3:22 p.m., they saw smoke rolling out from the roof at the end of the trailer. A woman who lived at the residence confirmed to firefighters that another woman was inside of the residence, McClanahan said.

Firefighters entered through the front door and began to search for McGaha in an attempt to get oxygen to the area of the trailer where she was located. McClanahan said they used thermal imaging cameras to find her.

A "tremendous amount of debris," boxes and clothing that was piled up, made it difficult to get to the woman, McClanahan said. One of the doors in the trailer was locked, and the door in a back bedroom where McGaha was located was blocked with boxes.

When firefighters got to the woman at about 3:35 p.m., they carried her out of a window on the side of the trailer.

"We had the victim out in about 18 minutes from the time we got the call," McClanahan said. "Under the circumstances, I think that was pretty commendable of the firefighters."

Emergency personnel began trying to revive the woman and loaded her into an ambulance. Rural/Metro Ambulance Service then took her to University of Tennessee Medical Center where she was pronounced dead.

McClanahan said it appeared that the fire started in the back of the trailer, which received "heavy fire damage." The rest of the trailer received smoke damage. He said the cause of the blaze is under investigation.

The Blount County Sheriff's deputies responded to the fire, helped bring the woman out of the burning house and began investigating the cause and origin of the fire.