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One person is dead and the investigation is continuing into a house fire that happened Wednesday afternoon in Prospect. 

At 2:44 p.m. on Wednesday, May 10, the Prospect Volunteer Fire Department received a call for a fire in the 400 block of Prospect Road. They arrived at a house fire with the structure engulfed in flames. 

According to Prospect Fire Chief Al Mason, the Prospect Department was one of many local departments to respond to the fire. Numerous other local departments also came to help including Pamplin, Darlington Heights and Farmville Volunteer Fire Departments. Prince Edward Sheriff’s Department and Prince Edward Volunteer Rescue Squad were also on the scene, along with an investigator from State Police. 

Even though the fire departments were on the scene shortly after 2:44 p.m., they did not clear the scene until 7:34 p.m. that evening. According to Mason, the home was deemed a total loss after the fire was extinguished. 

An elderly family member died in the fire, Mason added. No one else was injured. As for the fire itself, no one can say yet what triggered it. The cause is still under investigation.  

“I want to give a thank you to all the departments that helped,” said Mason. “Also to the citizens around the scene who helped as well.”

As stated earlier, the family lost everything including a family member in this fire. A GoFundMe was started for the family to help them recover from this tragedy. Anyone wanting to help can click here.