Fire Investigators with Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner Ralph Hudgens' office have ruled an early morning fatal house fire in Walker County accidental.
Killed in the fire was Peter Whittenberger, 60. The home located at 963 Round Pond Road, LaFayette, was heavily damaged. The fire call came in at 8:55 a.m.
An off-duty Walker County assistant fire chief, Marlin Thompson, pulled the man out of the burning house early Thursday morning.
The investigation revealed that the fire originated in the living room of the home and was the result of a wood-burning stove that malfunctioned. No evidence of a working smoke alarm was found in the home.
Commissioner Hudgens said, "Having a working smoke alarm doubles the chances that you will survive a fire in your home. Last year in Georgia, there were 91 fatal residential fires and 43 of those fires did not have working smoke alarms."
This fatality brings Georgia's fire death total to 87 for 2014.