A 5-year-old Scott County boy died in a pre-dawn house fire Tuesday south of Waldron, Sheriff Terry Staggs said.
Staggs said the boy's body was found in a bedroom after firefighters from Waldron Rural Fire Department and Waldron Fire Department extinguished the blaze that destroyed the brick home in the Jenkins community, three to four miles south of Waldron on U.S. 71.
Staggs didn't identify the boy or his family. He said the boy's body was sent to the state Crime Laboratory in Little Rock for positive identification.
The sheriff's office received a 911 call about 3:30 a.m. reporting the fire. Staggs said he believes one of the residents called in the fire after escaping from the house.
He said three adults -- a husband and wife, and a brother of the husband -- and three children lived in the home.
The residents were asleep when the fire broke out. The adults tried to round up the children but couldn't get to the third child because of the flames and heat, Staggs said.
He said some of the adults suffered minor injuries trying to reach the boy. The spreading fire finally forced them to leave the house.
The cause of the fire was under investigation by the Arkansas State Police, Staggs said.
Metro on 07/29/2015