BOY, 3, KILLED IN FIRE

SCOPUS -- A 3-year-old boy was killed in a house fire early Monday morning, despite efforts by the father to rescue the child.

The boy, Travis Proffer, and his father, Randy Proffer, were alone in the house when the blaze broke out. The boy's mother, Melinda, was working a midnight shift at Procter & Gamble.

Funeral arrangements are being handled by McCombs Funeral Home in Jackson.

James Bollinger, coordinator of the Bollinger County Civil Defense Fire Department, said, "We've ruled out any suspicious origin and ruled this an accidental fire. However, we don't know the specific cause of the fire.

"The child woke up the father by screaming," Bollinger said. "The father made an attempt to find the son, but the smoke was so thick. He ingested quite a bit of smoke and got some burns before he had to bail out a back window."

Bollinger said Proffer didn't go to the hospital, despite urging of those on the scene. "He has second degree burns on his hands and arms."

Gene Ward, Bollinger County coroner, said Monday the boy's body was sent to Jefferson County Hospital in Festus for an autopsy to determine the cause of death.

"We won't know the exact cause until we get the results back," Ward said. "But it's pretty safe saying he died of suffocation, either from smoke inhalation or methane gas."

Ward said many building materials contain plastics that, when burned, produce lethal methane gas.

Ward said the autopsy would be completed Monday.

"We may never know what happened," Ward said. "Anything we would say would be purely supposition on our part."

He said the child was apparently awake when the fire broke out. "He had turned the stove on in the past," Ward said. "But we don't know that is what happened this time."

Bollinger agreed that the boy was probably awake when the fire broke out. "Anything other than that is speculation," he said.

The fire call came in at 1:56 a.m.

"When we arrived the house was fully involved," Bollinger said. "We don't have any idea how long it had been burning before the call came in."

The house was a one-story frame house with a basement. "It's still standing, but the fire gutted the house."

The Scopus Rural Fire Department and the Bollinger County Civil Defense Fire Department responded. Fire personnel remained on the scene until 7 a.m., said Bollinger.

Bollinger said no smoke detectors were found in the home. "If there were smoke detectors, they weren't functioning. Every time we see a tragedy like this, it makes us wonder why people won't buy an $8 smoke detector."