Update: Third fatality confirmed from Friday structure fire in Tyler

Published 3:28 pm Sunday, February 10, 2019

Firefighters respond to a house fire with injuries reported at 1805 N. Grand Ave. in Tyler, Texas, on Friday, Feb. 8, 2019. (Chelsea Purgahn/Tyler Morning Telegraph)

The Tyler Fire Marshal’s Office has confirmed that a third victim from the residential structure fire on Grand Avenue on Friday has died at a Dallas hospital.

The 60-year-old adult female was one of five occupants removed from the structure by firefighters. A female child passed away at a Shreveport hospital early Saturday, and a 40-year-old male victim passed away at a hospital in Plano on Saturday afternoon.



Fire investigators have received reports that two children remaining in a Dallas/Fort Worth area hospital are continuing to improve.

The Tyler Fire Department responded to the blaze in the 1800 block of North Grand Avenue, which is about a block south of West Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, at about 6:15 p.m. Friday.

Upon entry, firefighters found the victims in various locations in the home, according to a news release from the fire department. Medical care started immediately and four ambulances were dispatched to the scene. 

The department extinguished the fire after the victims were removed from the home.

All patients were initially sent to local hospitals in critical condition before later being transported to hospitals in the Dallas, Fort Worth and Shreveport areas.

Two children were taken to Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth, while a third child was transferred to LSU Health-Shreveport. One adult was taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, while a second adult was transferred to Medical City Plano.

Investigators determined that the fire originated in the living room area, but the cause of the fire remains under investigation.