A 63-year-old man died early Friday when his Bedias trailer was destroyed by a fire. Jerry Glen Goolsby was the only person in the trailer, off Texas 90 about a half-mile south of Bedias. Authorities said they are still investigating but suspect the fire was caused by a pair of space heaters that Goolsby had bought the day before to deal with the area's recent drop in temperatures. Investigators said they found the two heaters in the rubble of the fire. "We understand that he just bought some [heaters], and we are looking at whether or not they were the source of the fire," Grimes County Sheriff Don Sowell said. "[The trailer] is being sifted through and worked on today." Sowell said the fire was reported at about 7 a.m. and firefighters responded in minutes, but by the time they arrived, the trailer was engulfed in flames. Renee Mathews, who owns the Hands Across the Border Cafe restaurant near the trailer, said she saw smoke coming from the trailer when she arrived at work. "I banged on the side to wake him up and then touched the door, and it was hot," she said. Mathews said she called for Goolsby's neighbor, who lived in a trailer a few feet away. "He told me to move, and he kicked the door down," Mathews said. "The oxygen from outside got in and ignited the fire, and it went up in flames. The flames went up way above the trailer." She said the flames were so big that the two were unable to enter the trailer, which was about 20 feet long. Firefighters found Goolsby's body inside after extinguishing the fire. Mathews said Goolsby had lived alone in the trailer for two or three years. He was retired, Mathews said, and was away from most of his family. "He was just staying there living out the rest of his life," Mathews said. "He was a nice gentleman. Everybody liked him." Mathews and Grimes County Sheriff's Deputy Debi Atzenhoffer said they met Goolsby every day at Mathews' restaurant or another cafe down the street and had coffee. He had his own table and chair in the back corner of the room, they said. "We just talked," Mathews said. "He talked a lot about his family. The holidays were rough for him because he was away from them, and he missed them." "We spent a lot of time together," Atzenhoffer said. "We are all such good friends that we kind of start to be like family."
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Space heaters ought to come with smoke detectors and shut off if there's smoke. But until then, I think a smoke shutoff power strip would do the job.
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