GALAX, Va. – One person is dead after crews responded to a fire in an apartment in Galax.
According to the Galax Police Department, a report of a fire at Harmony Village Apartments came in at 2:56 a.m. on Nov. 19. Galax PD said the caller told 911 that there was possibly one person in the apartment.
When officers from Galax PD arrived at the scene, they said heavy smoke was found from an upstairs apartment. Officers tried to get in, but were not able to because of the smoke and heat, according to the Galax PD.
Galax PD said fire crews arrived and when they entered the apartment they found 55-year-old Kenneth David Parnell dead.
The fire was quickly put out, and Galax PD said the damage was only to the single apartment.
Galax PD said the cause of the fire is being investigated, but preliminary indicators found the fire was accidental and associated with the use of an oxygen device.
The body was sent to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Roanoke for an autopsy.
Galax PD said no other residents were displaced from the building because of the fire.
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