COWETA COUNTY, Ga. — Authorities in Coweta County are trying to figure out what caused a fire that left a man dead overnight.
The brother of the 77-year-old man who died lives just down the road.
He told Channel 2’s Lauren Pozen that he rushed up to save his older brother, but the flames were too intense.
Everything was charred, although Pozen could see some of the kitchen appliances, including the stove, still smoldering, at the cabin on Shell Road.
“I was the first one up there last night before the firetrucks even got there,” Terry McMichael said.
McMichael said he is in shock but spoke to Pozen on Sunday morning, just 2 hours after his brother, Jerry, died in the fire.
The two brothers shared property together on Shell Road in Palmetto.
McMichael says just after 9 p.m. Saturday, his wife went outside to feed deer.
“She heard a real loud spewing noise and a few seconds later, it made a big boom,” McMichael said.
Mcmichael says he rushed up to the cabin to find his brother but couldn't.
Moments later, firefighters arrived.
They told Pozen the cabin was in flames and they found McMichael’s body outside.
“Due to it being several yards off the road it was pretty difficult to access, and they were not able to do anything with him at that time,” Coweta County Fire Department Battalion Chief Jeff Woody said.
McMichael said he and his older brother were very close.
They spoke about 20 minutes before the fire started.
“He was headed home, got four wheelers, that’s how he got back and forth,” McMichael said.
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