Family members killed in house fire
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Three people were killed in a fire that broke out just before midnight in Columbia County.
Photo by Jim Blaylock
Three people, including two children, died early Tuesday in a house fire in
the King Villa neighborhood.
The fire was in the 3100 block of Johnson Drive off of Washington Road near
Appling, said Assistant Chief Brice Reynolds with the Leah Fire Department.
According to the office of state Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner John
Oxendine, officials received the call to the fire just before midnight on
Monday.
The fire gutted the back of the residence where a wood stove is located, but
Reynolds said officials were not sure how the fire started.
Sisters Antis'cia and Eugenia Marshall and their stepfather, the Rev. Samuel
Bussey, were killed in the blaze. Bussey's wife, Sharron Bussey and
5-year-old Santarius Bussey were taken to Doctors Hospital's Joseph M.
Still Burn Center for treatment of smoke inhalation. Mrs. Bussey was listed
in critical condition, and Santarius was in serious condition Tuesday
morning.
Reynolds said heavy smoke and fire was pouring from the home when
firefighters arrived. Mrs. Bussey was already outside the house when the
first crews of the Martinez Fire Department arrived for mutual aid.
Firefighters found two bodies on the floor of the living room and pulled
them out of the residence, Reynolds said, and later found that a third
person died in the fire.
Crews from Leah, Appling, Winfield and Martinez responded to the fire.
Frank Hawes looks over the fire-gutted home of his nephew, The Rev. Samuel Bussey, in the King Villa Neighborhood. Rev. Bussey and his two daughters died of smoke inhalation. His wife and son were injured and are being treated at the hospital. Mr. Hawes tried to fight the fire with a garden hose until the fire department arrived.
Photo by Jim Blaylock