Sad News From Mountaineer Nation

Former Mountaineer Baseball player Tom Prosser III dies in house fire after saving the lives of his Mother, Father and Aunt and Uncle.

Man dies in house fire


Local News


ryan harris
Staff Writer
ETOWAH -- A 24-year-old Etowah man died Sunday after he attempted to rescue his parents from their burning log home at the foot of Starr Mountain, authorities said.
Tom Prosser III was in the basement of the three-story home on County Road 875 when the fire started at about 4 a.m. He ran upstairs to find his parents when he was overcome by smoke, said Detective Greg Earpes of the McMinn County Sheriff's Department. "He was being a hero," Earpes said. "He was trying to save his momma and daddy."
His parents, Tom Sr. and Linda Prosser, were treated at a hospital but were not badly injured, officials said. Mrs. Prosser's aunt and uncle who were visiting from Mississippi were also in the home and also managed to escape. Their names and conditions were not immediately available.
The Prossers own Petals and Bows floral shop in Etowah. Prosser III just graduated from college where he played baseball. He was a baseball standout at McMinn Central High School.
"Good people. Top notch. This boy was a good boy," said David Guy, a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agent who lives next door to the burned home.
"They were the kind of neighbors that when you say you are leaving for a couple of days, they said, 'No problem. We will watch it for you,'" Guy added of the Prosser family. "You don't find neighbors like that too often."
It's unclear what started the early-morning fire that reduced the scenic mountain home to a pile of ash and rubble. The only evidence that a house ever stood there Sunday was a towering chimney that jutted from the craggy soil and soot.
The fire was so intense that six cars parked nearby melted.
The fire was reported at about 4:30 a.m. It took rescue workers almost 12 hours to recover Prosser's body after state fire investigators probed the scene.
Investigators said the family was burning wood in the chimney but it isn't clear if that was the source of the fire.
"Due to the amount of destruction you can't really tell," Earpes said. Earpes said "there is not even an inkling" of suspicion about the fire. State arson investigators probe all fatal fires, he said.

 

Acknowledge Heroism

I did not know this young man, but the act of giving your own life to save someone elses qualifies as a genuine hero in my book. My thoughts and prayers are with the Prosser family.

 

My sentiments exactly