BLUEWELL, W.Va. — A fire at a suburban home outside Bluefield early Tuesday morning left two people dead.
“I think it was 2:30 or something to 3:00,” said Bluewell Volunteer Fire Department Chief Mike Gibson. “It was just a fully involved structure fire.”
Gibson and his crew along with firefighters from several other departments battled the blaze. The bodies were discovered inside after the fire was out. The state Fire Marshal was on the scene Tuesday morning looking for a cause.
The Bluefield Telegraph identified the victims through a family member as Hubert Stepp, 89, and his son Benjamin Stepp 54. The family member who identified the two victims, Kathy Hamm, 60, told the paper she the fire started in her bedroom around 2 a.m. as she was preparing for bed. Hamm told the Telegraph she was smoking and thought he ash of a cigarette reached the oxygen compressor in her room. She said she thought the fire was out and left the room, but it grew while she was away. Her father and brother were upstairs.
The state Fire Marshal continued the investigation on the scene Tuesday afternoon.
The fire comes a day after an unrelated fire in the community of Matoaka left a man dead. The victim in the Monday fire is identified as Jerry Cook, 74. He too was discovered after the fire was out. An investigation into the fire which claimed Cook’s life is also underway.