Two Brothers Killed in Chamblee House Fire

Two brothers - Russell and Charles Ford - died Monday morning in a Chamblee house fire that family members suspected was caused by smoking.

The brothers, according to their nephew Derrick Jett, said the two lived in the home since the 1970s and in the neighborhood their entire lives. Their mother lived in the home until she died in the 1990s. Neither brother was married, but Russell Ford, Jett said, was divorced.

According to fire authorities, the blaze began around 4:30 a.m. in the home on Parson's Drive off Peachtree Industrial Blvd. in Chamblee.

Jett said he received a call from a neighbor who told him the house was on fire and that she suspected the two men were still inside.

"I just came right over. It still seems unreal," Jett said. Jett and other family members were working to nail boards on the windows and doors of the the home this afternoon.

Police and fire authorities said the cause of the fire had not been determined.

Jett said none of the property inside the home was able to be saved and that the it was unlikely that the family would attempt to save the home.