Four adults and two children were killed Sunday morning in a house fire that Alcoa Fire Department Chief Roger Robinson called the worst tragedy he's seen in his 39-year career.
Twenty-nine firefighters responded to the single-story home at 885 N. Wright Road after someone called E-911 to report the blaze at 5:24 a.m.
Crews began battling "heavy fire conditions," and within five to eight minutes, the flames "were brought under control enough to do search and rescue," Robinson said at a news conference on Sunday afternoon. Firefighters found two people dead inside the home. They rescued another four people from the burning house, Robinson said. Alcoa police officers joined emergency medical service workers in performing CPR on the victims.