Discarded cigarette caused deadly Gaston County fire, investigators say

DALLAS, N.C. — Fire investigators told Channel 9 they believe people smoking outside tossed a cigarette, which sparked a deadly fire in Gaston County early Saturday morning.

The fire happened just before 3:30 a.m. on Dusty Hill Road in Dallas.

It destroyed the home and several cars within minutes. The blaze left one man dead and displaced as many as 12 people.

One resident, Donavan Davis, told Channel 9's DaShawn Brown the fire burned from the outside in and raged for hours.

"It woke me up out of my sleep," Davis said. "So I rushed to bang on everybody's doors to get them out."

Davis said the man who died, 65-year-old Jeffrey Michael, was the furthest away from the door and couldn't escape.

Hobson said the man was on the phone at the time calling for help.

"He was on the phone with EMS the whole time," Hobson said. "He was telling them where he was and that he was covered in a blanket."

Gaston County police said Michael was able to describe where he was in the house, but the fire quickly overtook the room he was in.

Cox Media Group