Greene County Chief Deputy Jack Williams issued a statement about 3:45 p.m. Thursday on the fire that destroyed the home of Tony and Amber Moore and took the life of their 4-year-old son, Harley.
Williams, who is also the Jefferson Volunteer Fire Department Fire Chief, said a 911 call was received by the Greene County Sheriff’s office at 8:22 a.m. of a house fire “with a 4-year-old boy still trapped on the second story of the residence.”
When Greene County deputies arrived on the scene, “the house was fully engulfed with flames and a propane tank was purging with direct fire on it,” Williams said.
Perry Volunteer Fire Department Assistant Chief Kevin McLaughlin confirmed Williams’ account.
“The way the house was when we got there,” McLaughlin said, “it was already fully engulfed and part of it had fallen down.”
By the time the fire was put out, “the structure that was a two-story, single-family residence was mostly in the basement,” Williams said.
He said three other people escaped the burning structure, Amber Moore, her infant child, Aedon, and a family friend. Amber’s husband, Tony Moore, was at work at the time of the fire, and their 10-year-old son, Zane, was in school.
“The cause of the fire is still under investigation by the Greene County Sheriff’s office and the State Fire Marshal’s office,” according to Williams.
Williams said the body of Harley Moore was recovered and taken to the State Medical Examiner’s office.
“The cause we don’t know,” McLaughlin said. “The State Fire Marshal’s office is here, and they’re going to handle the investigation, and we’ll just assist them as need be. There’ll be more information to come, but we’ll let them do their investigation before we release too much more.”
McLaughlin declined to speculate on the cause of the fire or its rapid consumption of the house.
“Regardless, it was a sad situation and a tragic loss,” he said. “Hopefully, we can find out what caused it and use that information to teach other people.”
Responding to the fire were the Perry Volunteer Fire Department, Rippey Volunteer Fire Department, Grand Junction Volunteer Fire Department, Jefferson Volunteer Fire Department, Dallas County EMS, Greene County EMS and the Greene County Sheriff’s office.
The fire rekindled about 4:30 p.m., and the Perry firefighters were again called to provide backup at the scene of the day’s tragic death.
A Gofundume page on behalf of little Harley and the entire Moore family has been started by the Moores’ first cousin, Jessica Goehring of Perry.
ThePerryNews.com will update this story as information becomes available.
