Man found dead in Fort Worth house fire is identified

The elderly man found dead Monday after a fire in his southeast Fort Worth house was identified on Thursday.

Willie Faggett, 77, was found dead on the bedroom floor of his house in southeast Fort Worth, according to the Tarrant County medical examiner’s office.

In March, a woman who lived just two doors away died because of a fire in her house.

Faggett’s body was found by firefighters responding to a call at 3608 S. Hughes Ave. Neighbors who had seen smoke had tried to rescue the man by pulling burglar bars off the front door but were unsuccessful, according to a Fort Worth fire spokesman.

The one-alarm fire was reported at 1:40 p.m., Faggett was pronounced dead at 1:48 p.m., according to the medical examiner. The cause of his death was not available Thursday night.

In March, Eunice Middlebrook, 82, was found dead inside her home after a fire. She lived at 3600 S. Hughes Ave. Heavy fire near the front door and locked burglar bars briefly kept firefighters from entering, according to news reports.

Middlebrook died of smoke inhalation and carbon monoxide at 5 a.m. March 22, the medical examiner reported.

The causes of the fires are not available, said Lt. Kyle Falkner, a Fort Worth fire spokesman.

Falkner said the department conducted a smoke detector drive after the first fire.

“It’s almost certain that [firefighters] knocked on the door of that house that caught fire this Monday,” he said.

Firefighters checked smoke detectors of all the homes in the neighborhood and installed them for those who did not have one. — Monica S. Nagy

This story was originally published January 15, 2015 at 4:26 PM with the headline "Man found dead in Fort Worth house fire is identified."