PINEVILLE, S.C. (WCIV) -- A local family will face a new year without their father. According to the Berkeley County Coroner, the Pineville man was found dead Wednesday morning in his home. His house caught fire around 8 a.m. and crews could not save him.
The victim's daughter described her dad as a jack of all trades. He also had a son who serves in the army, in Iraq.
The coroner says the 911 call came at 8:15 a.m.
"When the fire department was able to make entry into the trailer and extinguish the fire, they found one person that was deceased inside the trailer," said Berkeley Co. Coroner, Bill Salisbury.
Officials say the fire could be spotted along Highway 45 when the first call for help was made. At that time, flames consumed the center of the home on Boone Lane.
Family members tell us their 57-year-old father was the one inside who did not make it out. The man had lived in that home most of his life.
"He grew up in the house in the back and he moved here, there was another house before this but basically all our life he had lived there," the victim's daughter explained.
She says her father spent much of his time at the home because of a health condition. But it was during that time he passed the hours reading and doing the other things he loved.
"He actually was mostly around the house, trying to do this little fence thing, one by one, building little parts of the house," she said. "That's what he would do, build little things. He was a jack of all trades."
Investigators from Berkeley County say they are looking into whether the fire was suspicious, and they're getting help.
"Also, they have called the SLED arson team which is normal protocol whenever you have a fatality," added Salisbury.
The cause of the fire has not been determined. Firefighters say they were able to get it under control within 15 minutes, but the house was engulfed by flames when they arrived.
Cross and Eadytown fire departments responded to the fire.
*The coroner is asking that we withhold the name of the deceased until all next of kin can be notified.
(WCIV)
(Joe ONeill/WCIV)
(Joe ONeill/WCIV)
