Mother, son hurt in Poplar Bluff fire die

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- A Poplar Bluff mother and her adult son, both of whom firefighters pulled from their burning North Street home last weekend, died earlier this week after family members removed them from life support.

Tesson Trube, 43, died Tuesday in the burn unit at St. John's Mercy Hospital in St. Louis, while her 25-year-old son, Uriah Nelson, died Monday in the burn unit at The Regional Medical Center in Memphis, Tennessee. Both died of smoke inhalation.

Neighbors discovered the fire at the family's 907 North St. home about 2:15 a.m. Sunday, when they were awakened by a window apparently exploding.

Kyle Carter, an investigator for the State Fire Marshal's Office, determined the cause of the fire was accidental, said Poplar Bluff fire chief Ralph Stucker.

Based on its origin, the fire was found to be on the northern wall in the living room.

"There was electrical in the area; the electrical can't be ruled out" as the cause, Stucker said.

Medical personnel told Stucker on Wednesday that Nelson died at 10:47 a.m. Monday.

While Stucker was unable to get any information on Trube from the St. Louis hospital on Wednesday, her mother, Susan Trube, reported she had died.

Although her daughter and grandson had been deprived of oxygen in the fire and were "probably DOA" (dead on arrival) at Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center, Susan Trube said, she "insisted they airlift them out of there.

"They don't have ventilators here to care for patients like that," she said.

The elder Trube said she was hopeful burn-unit personnel could help her family members.

After tests were performed Monday on Nelson, "that's when they declared him dead," his grandmother said.

A Tuesday test confirmed Tesson Trube was brain dead as well, so she also was taken off life support.