BLYTHEVILLE, Ark. — Two people are dead after a house fire in Blytheville, Arkansas.
Blytheville officials say the fire department responded to a residence in the 700 block of South Lilly Street at around 3 a.m. Thursday. Crews found a two-story building heavily engulfed in flames.
The crews were able to get inside and search the building. They found two victims inside.
Blytheville officials say the victims have been identified as 37-year-old Travis Armstrong and 49-year-old Sandra Hopkins.
The victims’ bodies have been sent to the Arkansas State Crime Laboratory in Little Rock to determine their cause of death.
Dassah Wells, Hopkins’s niece, is grieving, coming to grips with the death of her aunt.
“My auntie, she’s funny,” Wells said. “She jokes, but she’s serious. Yea, she’s serious, she don’t play. But my auntie, we like really close.”
Arthur Lee Williams, Armstrong’s uncle, spoke with him just last week.
“He was a good nephew, a great nephew, wonderful nephew,” Williams said. “We gonna miss him because of this thing that happened right here.”
The Blytheville Fire Department is investigating the cause of the fire while the Blytheville Police Department is conducting a death investigation.
“I want to know what happened to my auntie. I want to know what’s going on,” Hopkins said.
She says she and her aunt had special bond.
“It was unbreakable, nobody could break that bond that we had,” Hopkins said.
Armstrong’s uncle says his heart is heavy.
“Man, my heart,” Williams said. “I ain’t gonna break down, but sooner or later, I’m gonna have to break down.”
Blytheville Fire chief Mike Carney tells us there were no working smoke detectors in the house.