More information has been released about a fatal house fire in Winchester early Thursday morning.
Winchester Fire Chief Freddie Andrews says that he arrived to the scene directly after the call was placed to Scott County Dispatch just before 2 o’clock Thursday morning to a structure fire at 134 South Mechanic Street: “Upon arrival, I was the first fireman there. I found the east side to be fully involved, with fire showing through the roof and out the door on the east side. The neighbors were outside and alerted us that they though somebody was at home still. Once we got our gear going, we initiated a search and found an occupant in the house and got them out and hooked up to the EMS. They took them to the hospital.”
The lone occupant to the home, 30-year old Christian McCombs was transported by Winchester EMS and LifeStar EMS to Jacksonville Memorial Hospital, and was later pronounced deceased at the hospital shortly after 3:30 Thursday morning by Morgan County Coroner Marcy Patterson. Patterson says that an autopsy is scheduled for later this week.
Andrews says that firefighters remained on scene for approximately 6 hours. The Winchester Fire Department and the Illinois State Fire Marshall are conducting an investigation into the origin and cause of the fire. Andrews says no firefighters were hurt fighting the blaze. The home is considered a complete loss.