COVINGTON, Ky. — One person is dead after a house fire in Covington early Friday morning, according to Corey Deye, Covington's fire chief.
Deye said crews were first called to the fire on Garrard Street at around 1:30 a.m. Friday morning. He said multiple adults made it out of the house, but one person later died. That person has been identified by family members as Randy Helton.
"Randy's adorable. He walks down the street. He sings He's a neighbor. You know, he'll help you do anything," said Sarah Hill, who lives a few houses down. "Just Lord have mercy, you know? It's sad."
Another person was taken to the hospital with injuries Deye described as "minor." Family members told us that the person was Helton's sister, who has medical issues. The two lived together, and Helton would take care of her.
Neighbors gave us surveillance footage that captured a flash and boom while the fire was happening:
"He was very kind. He was very helpful. He was talking to the baby. It was a cool experience to meet somebody very kind like him," said neighbor Domanyque Jones, who told us she met the man just hours before the fire.
Jones said the blast shook her house and awoke her and her family.
"It was terrifying actually, cause our room is right there, so you felt all the vibrations from the explosion," Jones said.
Deye said firefighters are looking into the possibility that an explosion also occurred at the home after hearing popping noises on scene, but that investigators do not believe an explosion was the cause of the fire.
"Where's Randy, where's his sister? It was the first thing we were thinking, and then it exploded. It got even worse," Hill said.
The investigation is still ongoing. Helton's family told us his sister used oxygen and that a tank had blown up.
