Grandmother, 96, and her son, 56, die in Detroit house fire
(CBS DETROIT) – An early-morning house fire on Friday took the life of a grandmother who was two months shy of her 97th birthday. Her son also didn't make it.
Firefighters found both of them early this morning inside their home on the 3400 block of East Kirby Avenue.
Family members say Katherine Hickman and her son, Dirk Hickman, lived at the address for much of the 96 years she was on this earth.
They are utterly devastated that she died the way she did.
Into her 90s, Katherine Hickman lived a life full of joy.
"Her mobility in recent years hasn't been what it was. But she was still determined to have as much independence as she could," Antony Martin, Katherine Hickman's nephew, said.
And so many were hopeful when the fire broke out.
"I'm just thinking I hope granny's house is salvageable, or if not, where could we move her to," Rondell Wilson, her grandson, said.
However, the fire was bigger than they thought.
The first wave of firefighters pulling up could see flames shooting out of a second-floor bedroom.
"We've got one civilian we're pulling out of the basement still searching for the second," a firefighter said to a dispatcher.
The thick, acrid smoke was too much.
Katherine Hickman died at the hospital. Her 56-year-old son was pronounced dead at the scene.
"That's not the way anybody should go out at any circumstances, by any means. So to hear that and to hear the reason why. It's pretty crushing, to say the least, man," Wilson said.
Relatives describe Dirk Hickman as the go-to guy whenever you needed a handyman. Katherine was the glue to this family.
"She set the standard for her kids, her grandkids, to live the life you want to live," Wilson said.
A two-time breast cancer survivor and Ford retiree Katherine devoted much of her time to the St. Matthew's & St. Joseph's Episcopal Church on Woodward Avenue.
"I'll just miss getting together with her. Talking with her, having lunch with her, traveling with her. Those are the things that will, you know, remain close to my heart," Martin said.
Investigators are looking into the cause of the fire and whether there were working smoke detectors inside the home.
