Early morning fire kills two in Jasper after neighbors hear loud explosion

JASPER, Ga. - Two people died in a house fire in Jasper early Monday morning. 

"They’ve lost everything," said neighbor Wanda O'Bryant. "Everything, in 20 minutes." 

The fire department got a call just before 7:48 a.m. on Oakmont Drive. He said his first crews were on the scene by 7:50 a.m., Jasper Fire Chief John Sherrer III said in a news release. 

It was still too late to save those two victims. 

O'Bryant said one was a small child whom she had known well. 

"I'd get the little boy toys and give him rides," she said. "It's just so sad." 

Neighbors describe Jasper house fire

Gabriella Martinez, who lives down the street, described hearing a sonic boom before the heavy smoke filled the neighborhood. 

"It was very, very loud," Martinez said through a translator. "Police, firetrucks, ambulances." 

O'Bryant said she drove the surviving victims to get help from the American Red Cross, including the family's matriarch. 

"She was going back in the house, and she heard the explosion," O'Bryant said. "Her son, daughter-in-law, and their two-year-old live in the basement and that’s where the explosion came from. They started screaming for them and they didn’t answer."  

Crews from Pickens Fire and Rescue and Bethany-Salem Fire Department aided Jasper police officers and firefighters at the scene, the chief said. He has not confirmed the names or ages of the victims. 

The Jasper Fire Marshall's Office and the Georgia State Fire Marshal's Office are leading the investigation into the cause of the apparent explosion.