HALLS CROSSROADS, Tenn. — UPDATE WEDNESDAY: One person and two dogs died Tuesday afternoon in a house fire in Halls, according to Rural Metro Fire. On Wednesday, the Knox County Sheriff's Office identified the victim as James William Zuber, 73.
The fire was reported at about 4:35 pm.
"When crews arrived on the scene, they found a home fully engulfed by flames thru the roof, being pushed by strong winds. Crews worked thru difficult weather conditions to gain control of the blaze and limit damage to other structures," Rural Metro said.
“The wind naturally got ahold of it," says Jeff Bagwell, with Rural Metro Fire. "Anyone can think about what winds does to a fire, like a campfire ... You blow wind on it and it accelerates and grows the fire. That has the same effect on a house fire, on a windy day."
10News spoke to one of Zuber's neighbors, who said the house was already damaged when he spotted the flames.
"As soon as I was about to go up to the house and bang on the doors and windows to see if anyone was in there, stuff started falling down," says Amy Farmer.
The Knox County Sheriff's Office's fire investigation unit is looking into the fire, which is standard.
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PREVIOUS STORY: Rural Metro said Tuesday that crews were working to put out a fire in the Halls Crossroads community on April 2. It said that crews were "working against the wind" to put out the house fire.
It asked people to avoid the area of the 8400 block of Andersonville Pike until further notice, so crews could continue working to extinguish the flames. Video from Rural Metro showed flames burning in the upper parts of the home, and smoke billowing up from the house.
Additional information, such as the cause of the fire and whether any injuries were reported, was not immediately available. This story will be updated when more information is available.