SILSBEE, Texas — Southeast Texas officials are revealing more information about the Tuesday morning house fire that claimed the lives of a Hardin County couple.
Firefighters did everything they could, but the flames were too intense when they got there.
Silsbee Fire Chief Robin Jones said they're still working to determine what caused the fire, but so far the investigation has revealed the home did not have smoke detectors.
In a tragic scene, a married couple could not escape an early morning fire just north of Silsbee.
The Silsbee fire chief confirmed 59-year-old Billy Wayne Rose and 62-year-old Carolyn Rose died in that fire.
Jones said firefighters got the call just before 4 a.m. and when they arrived, most of the house was engulfed in flames. Another house on the property caught fire but it's vacant so no one was injured.
Jones said this time of year is when fires become more frequent. The cold weather brings some additional risks with people turning on home heating for the first time since last winter.
"Whenever we get real cold spells, that's when the people with space heaters would come out and they've come a long way with the space heaters,” Jones said. “They're not near as dangerous as they used to be but still, they do end up getting close to curtains and stuff like that and end up causing a fire."
Jones said it's still too early to tell if a space heater was the cause of this fire. But he is urging people to get smoke detectors.
If you already have them inside your home, make sure they are working, he said.
