Victims Identified in Deadly Duluth House Fire

DULUTH, GA — Gwinnett County officials have released the names of the five people killed in a Sunday morning house fire in Duluth.

According to the Gwinnett County Medical Examiner's office, the victims were: David Allen Waring, 45, his daughter Danielle Waring, 19, her boyfriend Edward Cameron Brown, 21, Kimberly Arterburn Lewis, 45, and Kelley Tomkinson, 47.

The deadly blaze took place at the 2200 block of Post Oak Drive NW.

Firefighters responded at 3:30 a.m. Sunday after neighbors saw smoke and flames coming from the house, which was already engulfed when fire units arrived.

Firefighters began battling the blaze from the outside because the fire was too intense to enter the home.

Upon making entry, firefighter’s located three victims deceased during a primary search, but were unable to complete a search due to the magnitude of the damage and a partial collapse of the home.

Neighbors had suggested as many as five people could have been in the home, and two more bodies were found later in the morning after a technical crew was brought in to stabilize a portion of the home, fire officials said.

In addition to the five victims, a dog and cat also were killed in the fire.

By Wednesday, multiple online fundraising efforts had been started to help the families of the victims.

Kim Artenburn Lewis's two young daughters, Cayla and Maddie, were not home at the time of the fire.

But they lost everything — including their mother.

A GoFundMe campaign on their behalf had raised more than $6,000 as of Wednesday morning.

Debbie and Bowden Oakes, Danielle Waring's great-grandparents, are the legal guardians of her two-year-old son, Kris.

They know they will never turn him back over to Danielle's care, as was the plan, and, at ages 67 and 65, say they fear how well they can secure his future. They've started a GoFundMe campaign to create a college fund for Kris.

A second fundraising campaign for the family also has been set up.

Fire investigators were still working Wednesday to determine the exact cause of the deadly fire.

They had not ruled out a fire pit on the house's back deck. Neighbors have reported the home's residents were using the fire pit the night before the fire.