Two sisters dead after Macon house fire

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Two sisters are dead after a house fire at 734 Carmen Place on Tuesday morning.

64-year old Virginia “Gerald” Christian, and 51-year old Marcia Sauls were pronounced dead at The Medical Center, Navicent Health just before 8 a.m.

Macon-Bibb County fire investigators say the fire most likely started by smoking materials – cigarettes – on the couch.

Neighbors thought the two women were good people and said it’s heartbreaking to lose them, especially when they meant so much to the community.

“She would always let people in the family move in over there and she just had a lot of patience and tolerance,” Billy Brockman, a neighbor who lives across the street, said about Christian.

Brockman said Marcia’s son managed to get out of the burning house and ran across the street asking for his help saving is mom and aunt.

“My wife was already calling 911 so I told him not to worry about it. There wasn’t no way to try to go back into that house and I wasn’t going to let him and I wasn’t going to try to either,” Brockman said.

Firefighters quickly got to the scene and managed to get Sauls and Christian out of the house and to the hospital where they later died.

Christian died at 7:34 a.m. and Sauls died at 7:44 a.m. according to Assistant Bibb County Coroner, Lonnie Miley.

“By the time we heard the fire truck and the sirens, I told him to be calm and they were on the way and that they would do the best they could,” Brockman said.

Investigators haven’t recovered a smoke director, and say smoking material — most likely a cigarette — is what started the fire.

It’s painful for Sundra Woodford, who worked with the sisters with Habitat for Humanity, where they wanted to help revitalize their neighborhood.

“Sad for the family and their loss and sad for this neighborhood because they really lost some residents who were really engaged and excited about the turnaround of this neighborhood,” she said.

A turnaround that lost two of its shining stars.

Three of the victims’ dogs were also killed in the fire. Another dog survived and was taken to Macon-Bibb Animal Welfare.

A spokesman with the Macon-Bibb Fire Department says the house was significantly damaged from smoke and fire and be a total loss.