Fatal fire blamed on candle; victim ID’d|[5/01/06]

Published 12:00 am Monday, May 1, 2006

A Hollandale man found dead as a result of a house fire at a Warren County hunting camp Saturday evening has been identified and the fire blamed on a candle, Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace said Sunday.

The report of the fire came at the height of a line of storms that hit the county, leaving 4,500 electricity customers without power and scattered reports of downed trees.

The body of Ellis Steed, 79, 310 Cypress St., was found in a mobile home at Buck Creek Hunting Camp off Youngton Road near the Yazoo County line in north Warren County. A cell phone call reporting the fire went to E-911 at 9:52.

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&#8220The power had gone out at the deer camp and it appears that he had a candle and a lamp in the mobile home,” Pace said. &#8220According to witness accounts and what investigators found, the fire started in an area where the candle was. The candle was near an ignition source.”

Warren County Sheriff’s Department Detective Mike Traxler and county Volunteer Fire Coordinator Kelly Worthy investigated the fire, which firefighters had extinguished by about 10:40. Pace said the investigation showed no sign of foul play.

&#8220Everything is consistent with an accidental fire,” he said.

Steed’s body was found near the back door of the mobile home. An autopsy will be performed tonight at Mississippi Mortuary Services, said Warren County Deputy Coroner Larry Chisley.

The fire was the second over a four-day period for county officials. The first occurred Thursday evening, when Edmond Wilson, 70, 7018 Warriors Trail, was blown from his home in an explosion that blew apart his home. Wilson was sent to Louisiana State University Burn and Reconstruction Center in Shreveport, La., where he remains in critical condition, a hospital spokesman said.