Fatal fire victims identified; 911 operator loses contact as family members perish

Two elderly cousins and an adult male died in an early morning house fire at the corner of Mildred Court in Macon.

Someone from inside the burning home called 911 just before 3 a.m. Friday, but the three did not escape the thick smoke before firefighters arrived.

Heavy smoke was pouring from the left side of the brick house at 3325 Mildred Drive when crews got there.

“They found the victims relatively fast. Unfortunately, they had succumbed to their smoke and injuries,” Macon-Bibb County Fire Chief Marvin Riggins said.

Louise Howard, 77; her son, Calvin Howard, 29; and her cousin, Jessie Bivins, 81, died at the scene.

Riggins said the family members awakened to the fire and had a working smoke detector.

Operators lost contact with the person on the phone and firefighters found the victims unconscious inside the house when they arrived.

“They started resuscitative measures immediately, but unfortunately, they were unable to survive,” Riggins said.

Louise Howard’s single-story house sustained heavy damage on the left side, but firefighters put out the flames quickly, Riggins said.

A family member at the scene said it’s believed the fire might have started in one of the bedrooms.

Fire investigators are looking through the burned rooms to try to determine what started the blaze.

Riggins stressed that everyone should have a fire escape plan in addition to having a smoke detector.

“Once the smoke alarms have done their jobs, now we have to work on getting you out of the house,” Riggins said. “Two of the three were out of the area where the fire was, but the heavy smoke was in those areas.”

Practicing escape routes can save time when minutes count in a deadly blaze.

The bodies were taken Friday to the GBI Regional Crime Laboratory on Riggins Mill Road for autopsies, deputy coroner Lonnie Miley.

This story was originally published December 30, 2016 at 7:31 AM with the headline "Fatal fire victims identified; 911 operator loses contact as family members perish."