News

Woman died in fire she set, sheriff's office says

By Bill Moss, Published: January 3, 2015

ETOWAH — A 53-year-old Etowah woman died Friday night in a trailer fire that investigators say she set herself.

Etowah-Horse Shoe Fire Department firefighters responded to the report of a structure fire at 48 Cornflower Drive at 10:30 Friday night. The singlewide trailer was engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived. A female victim was found inside the home by firefighters and transported for treatment to Pardee Hospital. Resuscitation efforts were unsuccessful and she was pronounced dead at Pardee, the sheriff's office said. Later Saturday night, authorities identified her as Terry Waldrop, who lived alone. No one else was in the home at the time of the fire.

After an investigations by the sheriff's office, fire marshal, Etowah-Horse Shoe firefighters, North Carolina SBI and Henderson County Medical Examiner's Office, "investigators have concluded Waldrop intentionally started the fire during a suicide attempt," the sheriff's office said in a news release. The investigation determined the fire started at two separate and unrelated areas of the home.

Responding to the fire were  were Etowah Horse Shoe, Mills River, Valley Hill and Mountain Home firefighters, the Henderson County Rescue Squad, the county EMS and Little River Fire Department.