1 other taken to hospital

CHESAPEAKE –– A house fire on Rockwood Avenue early Sunday morning claimed the lives of three people and injured one other.

Chesapeake Fire Chief Ed Webb said the fire started around 1 a.m. Sunday.

“We had firemen on scene within a minute or a minute and a half,” Webb said. “At that point, the house was fully involved.”

Webb added that a badly burned female victim was outside of the front of the house when firemen arrived, and was transported to Cabell Huntington Hospital, where he believes she is still in the burn unit.

He said that a boy in the neighborhood, who also had to be treated for burns, pulled her out of the house.

“We considered the house a hoarders house because of all the materials inside,” Webb said. “We know that there were three fatalities inside the house, but it was impossible to go into the house to do a rescue because of how involved the fire was and the amount of items in the house that could have fallen.”

The three fatalities included two females, Erma Hatten, 81, and Tanessa Davis, 27, and one male, Steven Jeffry, 44. They were all residents of the house.

The injured victim who got out of the house is Belva Stanley, however, no age is known. Webb said the state fire marshal, who is handling the investigation, had to bring in extra investigators due to the fatalities.

“We’re still waiting on the fire marshal’s report,” Webb said. “We don’t know where or how the fire started, but it’s hard to pinpoint due to the amount of fire damage.”

Webb said crews finally left the scene around 10 a.m. Sunday and no firemen were injured.

Responding to the fire were the fire departments of Chesapeake, Proctorville and Fayette Township.