Fire claims Bluefield man

BLUEFIELD – A late night house fire on Big Branch Road left one person dead and another badly injured Nov. 14.
Major Chris Boyd of the Tazewell county Sheriff’s Office said units from Bluefield Fire and Rescue were dispatched around 11 p.m. to 976 Big Branch Road. Boyd said the frame structure was an older home that had once been a log house.
When fire units arrived on the scene the structure was fully involved and they spent several hours battling the blaze. Boyd said Phyliss Coffey, of Morganton, NC., escaped the blaze but not before receiving serious burns. Coffey initially refused treatment from EMS personnel but was later taken to the hospital by a relative.
She is currently in the intensive care unit at Bluefield Regional Medical Center. Boyd said another person died in the blaze and authorities are not releasing his name pending the results of an autopsy.
Boyd said foul play is not suspected but an investigation is required anytime someone dies in a fire. Captain Anne Hickman of the sheriff’s office and Arson Investigator Wayne Isaac of the Virginia State Police ar3e conducting the investigation.