A man was pulled out of his smoke-filled downtown apartment last week by two neighbors who heard an explosion and came to the rescue. His brother is accused of setting the fire.
Freddie Lee Fox, 66, is in custody facing charges of arson, assault and attempted murder in the early morning Feb. 19 fire at an apartment on Eagle Street. According to charging documents, he is the older brother of Odell Fox, who lived inside the apartment.
Odell Fox was taken to a local hospital in critical condition and placed in the intensive care unit. He suffered severe smoke inhalation, but is expected to survive.
"I hear an explosion, a big bang,' said Joseph Schultz, a commercial fisherman who also lives at the apartment complex. "I was talking to my friend on the phone and all of a sudden, I open up my door and I'm talking to him and I go, 'Hey, holy smokes there’s' — I cussed, I didn’t say 'smokes' — and I go, 'there’s a fire! There’s a fire!' I said, 'Oh, this looks bad, I gotta go.' I hung up on my friend. I ran over here."