Childhood friends die trying to escape burning house

Longtime friends died early Wednesday trying to flee from a north Macon house fire.

Just before 3:10 a.m., a neighbor called 911 about flames shooting from Cheryl Mcglynn’s house at 745 Woodridge Drive, off Wimbish Road.

When Macon-Bibb County firefighters entered the burning brick building, they found the 57-year-old Mcglynn unconscious in a spare bedroom and got her out of the house, Battalion Chief Todd Alligood said.

Firefighters started doing CPR, and EMTs rushed Mcglynn to Coliseum Northside Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Her friend, Troy Thomason, who turned 56 on Tuesday, was found in the same area of the house, but he died at the scene.

“They were childhood friends, and he needed a place to stay,” Bibb County Coroner Leon Jones said.

A dog also died in the fire, according to a Bibb County sheriff’s release.

Mcglynn’s Facebook page mentions that she attended Central High School and Stratford Academy.

Her son, a Centerville firefighter, got a call about the blaze as he was getting up for work. He walked up to his mother’s house as firefighters were finishing up.

Alligood took him in the front door as crews were rolling up hoses out front.

Fire investigator Sgt. Steve Wesson said his initial inspection showed that the fire probably started in the furnished basement, where Mcglynn spent most of her time, he was told.

One of them awoke to find the basement on fire, the release said.

“I think they were downstairs and they were fleeing the fire and wound up in the (upstairs) bedroom,” Wesson said.

Fire victims can quickly become disoriented in heavy smoke, he said.

Wesson did not initially find a smoke detector, but one could turn up as investigators work to determine what started the fire.

“That basement sustained heavy fire damage,” Wesson said.

A female firefighter, who had already been feeling ill, was taken to the hospital to be checked out, Alligood said. She was treated at Coliseum Northside and released, Fire Chief Marvin Riggins said.

Fire Prevention Week kicks off Sunday, and everyone is urged to have working smoke detectors in strategic locations in their homes.

This story was originally published October 5, 2016 at 5:05 AM with the headline "Childhood friends die trying to escape burning house."