Married couple among 3 killed in SC house fire

State agents are trying to determine what caused a house fire that killed three people in Aiken County.

The deadly blaze happened just before 10 p.m. Thursday at a mobile home in Warrenville, about 60 miles southwest of Columbia, according to WFXG. Mavis Willard, 80, and her husband, 67-year-old John Willard, died at the scene, the station reported.

Marvin Kirby, a friend of the couple, was taken to Aiken Regional Medical Centers, where he later died, WRDW reported.

The Aiken County Sheriff’s Office is working with local fire departments and the state fire marshal’s office to determine where and how the fire started, according to the Aiken Standard.

The State Law Enforcement Division has arson investigators determining the origin and cause of the fire, spokesman Thom Berry said. So far they have found no evidence of criminal intent, he said.

“It’s very common that we’ll be called in to assist local law enforcement or fire service, especially when they’re requesting our assistance in trying to determine where and how a fire started,” Berry said, adding that SLED can be asked to assist in the investigation of any kind of fire, not just fatal fires.

Autopsy results on the three victims are still pending, Berry said.

The deadly Aiken County fire came just over 24 hours before a 9-year-old boy and his grandfather were killed in a mobile home fire in Greenville County on Saturday. That fire also remains under investigation.