A 10-year-old boy died Tuesday in a house fire in Martinez.
Columbia County Sheriff’s deputies broke into a burning house at 214 Sarah Creek Court and saved two children who they found in an upstairs bedroom, but the deputies were unable to find a third, said sheriff’s spokesman Maj. Steve Morris.
The blaze quickly spread through the house and a next-door home also caught on fire, according to Morris.
After extinguishing the fire, firefighters searched the burning home and found Nicolas Mai, 10, hiding behind a couch. Rescue crews took him by ambulance to Doctors Hospital, where he was declared dead, Morris said.
At the time of the fire the Nicolas’ parents were not home, but arrived just as the ambulance was taking their boy to Doctors Hospital, Morris said. The parents are Tong and Toyet Tran. Morris said it appears the children were home alone when the fire broke out.
“It is not known at this time how the fire started, but we do know that the children were in the home alone,” Morris said in a press release.
Currently the cause of the fire is under investigation by the Columbia County Fire Marshal. Detectives with the sheriff’s office are also investigating.
Joshua B. Good is a staff reporter covering Columbia County and military/veterans’ issues for The Augusta Press. Reach him at joshua@theaugustapress.com
