The cause of the fire that killed three people has been determined.
Three women were found dead in a home in the 400 block of N. Fourth Street in Nolanville Thursday.
"We have an 85-year-old white female, a 46-year-old white female and a 19-year-old female who were deceased inside the residence," said Chief Daniel Porter with the Nolanville Police Department.
Chief Porter said the home was fully engulfed in flames when first responders arrived on scene around 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday.
Fire officials said once the fire was contained, three bodies were found inside, all related family members. A family dog and cat were also found dead. The Bell County Fire Marshal said that the cause of the fire was due to an electrical fire in the garage.
The home and two vehicles in the driveway were a complete loss. The fire caused some neighbors to evacuate. Some neighbors even jumped in to try and help where they could.
"Instantly I went in to try and help people," said Dorothy Davis, neighbor. "Get people out of their houses and anywhere that was close, that I know or even if I didn't know them. Go get them and just try and get them out."
Davis saw the smoke from her house and immediately alerted her friend who lives directly beside the burned home.
"I looked through the breezeway and it's just like fire all over the house and the driveway is full of the cars fired up," said Davis. "I see it by my friend Violet's house, so I go over there to wake her up and be nosy in the backyard and it's a blazing. The whole house went down."
Chief Porter said this tragic incident is affecting the entire city.
"Everybody knows everybody in this part of town," said Chief Porter. "There was a lot of emotions, a lot of people coming up and just wanting to reach out and help. There was a lot of concern."
Two Central Bell County Firefighters were also treated for smoke inhalation and heat exhaustion. Neither of the firefighters were transported and both were released back to duty.
The cause of the fire is unknown and is still under investigation. The investigation is expected to take several days as evidence is gathered and submitted for examination.
Assets used over the last couple of days included an arson (accelerant) detection dog, multiple investigators, computer-aided reconstruction, ariel recon, hundreds of photos and a lot of hands-on work.
A GoFundMe has been set up to help financially support the family.
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