Firefighters remembered as fallen heroes
Cause of blaze remains under investigation

Photo courtesy Lori Mellinger/Bullard Banner News Investigators and clean-up crews pour through the skeletal remains of the house which burned Aug. 3, taking the lives of Noonday firefighters Kevin Williams and Austin Cheek. The family escaped safely. The cause of the blaze remains undetermined.

Officials are still looking into the blaze that claimed the lives of Noonday firefighters Capt. Kevin Williams and Austin Cheek, as well as destroying a family home in Flint.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the State Fire Marshal's Office are conducting the investigation.

The call came into the Flint- Gresham Volunteer Fire Department at 1:43 a.m. on Friday morning. They responded and called for more units to be dispatched from the Bullard and Noonday departments.

"There were flames coming from the roof, so they asked for assistance with the fire," Smith County Fire Marshal Jim Seaton said. "On arrival, firefighters from Noonday were assigned to an interior attack team."

Williams and Cheek were a part of the team that entered the burning house on hands and knees, along with the hose, to attack the fire from within.

At the point when firefighters outside the structure lost contact with Williams and Cheek, two additional Noonday firefighters, Chief Gary Aarant and Travis Burnett, were sent in to locate them. They came out with only one of the two men.

Another rescue team went in to retrieve the other.

Arrant and Travis were both treated and released from East Texas Medical Center for heat exhaustion and smoke inhalation.