Police confirmed one person died in a house fire Friday night on 17th Street. (Lisa Hall, RN-T.com)
According to Deputy Coroner Gene Proctor, Leonard Lipham, 57, was found dead in the home at 704 E. 17 St., just off Dean Avenue.
The cause of the fire had not been determined late Friday.
His body has been sent to the State Crime Lab in Atlanta for an autopsy, but the preliminary investigation indicates he succumbed to smoke inhalation, Proctor said.
The fire was called in to 911 from a cell phone, and firefighters did not know who called it in, said Capt. Roger Haggard of the Rome-Floyd Fire Department.
The flames shooting through the roof of the home could be seen from several blocks away.
“As Station 3 (firemen) were coming over the 12th Street bridge, they saw it,” Haggard said.
Police blocked off Dean Avenue near Pick-O-Deli on one end and near the Sports Page on the other end as firefighters ran a hose across Dean and up the hill to the home.
For a few minutes, the entire area was engulfed in smoke.
The fire gutted the small home where Lipham lived alone, Haggard said.
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