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Fire victim dies
Fire volunteer departments
After doubling the amount it gives volunteer fire departments last year, the county could increase that amount $2,000 more this year.

The woman who suffered severe burns in an early morning fire Sunday at her 319 Jackson Street residence has died according to Smithville Police.

60 year old Shelia Dowell passed away Tuesday at Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville. The family has chosen a direct cremation and no funeral service or visitation will be held.

The fire started in Dowell’s side of the duplex of the Smithville Housing Authority and spread to an adjoining dwelling at 321 Jackson Street at 4:41 a.m. Sunday. Dowell was helped from the residence during the fire by neighbors and bystanders and transported to Ascension Saint Thomas DeKalb Hospital by DeKalb EMS. She was later airlifted by helicopter to Vanderbilt Hospital. Two dogs inside the Dowell residence perished in the blaze.

Both dwellings were destroyed in the fire. A man, woman, and child at the 321 address escaped unharmed and firefighters were able to rescue their cat.

The cause of the fire is undetermined.