Neighbors mourn victim of Irvine house fire
IRVINE, Ky. (FOX 56) —Authorities are investigating a deadly fire that broke out at a home in Irvine on Saturday.
According to officials, it happened around 7 p.m. on Saturday at a home on the 200 block of Clear View Drive. They say 64-year-old Dennis W. Samples died in the blaze.
'It just broke my heart,' said Gina Hatton, a neighbor of Samples' on Clearview Drive.
She told FOX 56 what she saw that evening.
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'First, we saw a police officer just fly up the street, and we looked up, and there was just smoke coming up bad, and I knew something bad was wrong,' said Hatton. 'The first thought in my mind was Mr. Samples.'
She described the scene as 'massive,' with trucks from Estill County, Ravenna, and Hargett Fire Departments at Clearview Drive.
The road is barely big enough for two cars to get past each other.
Hatton said, 'When the coroner went down, I knew what was wrong.'
Another neighbor who lives across from Hatton declined an interview but said she would leave snacks and extra clothes in the back seat of her car for Samples that he would frequently help himself to.
Now, those items sit untouched.
'This neighborhood, through here, we try to help each other, and we do all we can for each other,' Hatton told FOX 56. 'And he was like a little lost soul that we kind of took under our wing and did what we could for him.'
A friendly face in the neighborhood is now gone.
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Neighbors mourn victim of Irvine house fire
'I heard that he was wanting to read his Bible right before all this happened, and he couldn't see to read it, you know. So, at least we pray that he went to heaven,' said Hatton.
Officials said Samples' body is headed to Frankfort for an autopsy, but there is no suspicion of foul play.
According to officials, the fire is under investigation.
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