Man found dead in rubble after Central Texas house fire

An investigation was underway Friday after a man was found dead in the rubble of a burned out house in Gatesville.

Firefighters responded to the fire at around 8:45 a.m. Friday in the 300 block of River Road, officials said.

The wood frame house and some vehicles next to it were engulfed in flames when the first crew arrived.

Firefighters found the body of a 36-year-old man in the rubble after bringing the fire under control.

“By the time I got there it was fully involved,” Gatesville Fire Chief Billy Vaden said, describing the blaze as “a very tragic incident.”

The cause of the fire is undetermined, but Vaden said an investigator from the State Fire Marshal’s Office arrived Friday afternoon.

“They are just trying to sift through it and see how it started,” he said.

While it’s still under investigation, Vaden said the fire doesn’t appear to be suspicious.

According to officials with the Coryell County Sheriff's Office who are assisting in the investigation, the man was renting the house and lived there alone.

Judge Coy Latham pronounced the man dead at the scene and ordered an autopsy.

CCSO Chief Deputy Mark Wilcox said there was nothing left to make a complete, positive ID, so they're waiting on the results of the autopsy to release the name of the deceased.

No one else was injured.