Conway man dies after fire at home

LITTLE ROCK — A Conway man died early Monday after suffering severe burns in a fire at his house Sunday night, authorities said.

Tom Southerland, 63, of Conway died at Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock, Conway Fire Chief Bart Castleberry said. The hospital has the state’s only burn unit.

Southerland suffered burns on about 95 percent of his body and died shortly after midnight, Pulaski County Coroner Gerone Hobbs said. The coroner said a cause of death had not been determined.

An off-duty firefighter was driving toward his home sometime after 8 p.m. Sunday when he saw the house fire and a woman standing on the porch, Castleberry said.

When the firefighter stopped and told the woman to get away from the fire, she told him that her husband was inside, Castleberry said. The firefighter contacted dispatch, but someone else had already reported the blaze.

The woman was not hurt, Castleberry said.

The cause of the fire remained under investigation late Monday, but the fire chief said there was no indication of arson.

“It is not a criminal investigation at this time,” he said.

The house, at the corner of Blaney Hill Road and Arkansas 25, was heavily damaged in the blaze.