SPARTANBURG, S.C. (WSPA) – Two people were found dead Saturday in what police described as an “extremely hot” house in South Carolina.
Officers were called for a welfare check at a house in Spartanburg around 6 p.m. Saturday after family members became concerned, according to a report from the Spartanburg Police Department.
Police and EMS were able to get inside the home where they found two people dead. The victims were identified as 84-year-old Joan Littlejohn and 82-year-old Glennwood Fowler.
The temperature inside the home was over 120 degrees, according to a police report, and firefighters discovered the furnace in the basement to be “extremely” hot.
“Temperatures reached upwards of 800 to 1,000 degrees,” Asst. Chief Brad Hall of the Spartanburg Fire Department said.
Firefighters also tested for carbon monoxide, but said they did not find unusual levels.
The victims’ family told police that they had previously been “fiddling” with a pilot light on the home’s hot water heater, after learning that both the heater and hot water heater “were out, and the residence was getting too cold,” according to a police report.
“Once the light came back on they left the residence,” the report said.
Although carbon monoxide was not initially detected in the home, Spartanburg County Coroner Rusty Clevenger said he is testing to see if it is found in the victims’ bodies.
“Carbon monoxide is a consideration whenever we deal with these type of deaths and with the type of heater that it was,” Clevenger said. “It is possible that they could have had some carbon monoxide poisoning.”
Clevenger said he has also hired a specialist to inspect the furnace.
“What I hope is they may be able to give me an evaluation and tell me if something was wrong, or if there was a malfunction or something on the heater that caused it to be as hot as it was in the house,” he explained.
Clevenger said it could take several weeks to determine how the victims died.
