Saturday Fort Worth house fire kills woman, grandson

A 45-year-old woman and her 3-year-old grandson were fatally injured Friday afternoon in a one-alarm fire at their home in east Fort Worth, officials said. Lavonda Anderson was pronounced dead about 1 p.m. at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Fort Worth, and her grandson, Maurice Anderson, was pronounced dead at Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth, according to the Tarrant County medical examiner’s office.

Firefighters found Anderson and the boy on the floor in front of the refrigerator and worked to revive them, said Lt. Kent Worley, a Fire Department spokesman.

The first units were dispatched to the house in the 6000 block of Truman Drive at 11:47 a.m., Worley said.

“One lady said she saw smoke coming from out of the roof and called 911,” said Hillary Greene, one of Anderson’s neighbors. “Looking at the outside of the house, you cannot tell it’s burned at all. It burned all on the inside.”

The fire had burned in the living room for some time and had almost gone out when firefighters arrived, Worley said. They had it completely out at 11:56 a.m.

Investigators believe that an unattended candle started the fire, he said. Damage was estimated at $70,000. The home did not have a working smoke detector, he said.
By Nathaniel Jones in The Fort Worth Star-Telegram