WHEELING – State officials are now investigating the cause of a fatal trailer fire that occurred Thursday night in a rural part of Ohio County between Dallas and Valley Grove.

Several companies of emergency responders were called out to the scene after the initial call came in at 5 p.m. Dispatch advised that there was a possible entrapment in the residence where flames were showing at 639 Wildlife Road, Valley Grove.

Tanker trucks were initially requested, but there was a fire hydrant available near the scene of the fire, according to Lou Vargo, director of Wheeling-Ohio County Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency.

“Valley Grove, Triadelphia, West Alexander, Dallas and Stone Church fire departments responded to it,” Vargo said, noting that personnel from the Ohio County Sheriff’s Office also responded to the scene. “A deputy got there first. He said it was fully involved, and the roof had partially collapsed on arrival. There was a fatality. Because it was a fatality, the state fire marshal was notified.”

Fighting the fully involved fire with a report of entrapment was particularly challenging for first responders in light of the lingering and dangerously cold winter weather conditions, officials noted. Thursday night’s below-freezing temperatures remained in the single digits.

“It’s very difficult,” Vargo said. “For one thing, you have to protect all of the firefighters there. Plus, for two, you have icy conditions because of all of the water from the hoses, and then everything turns into an ice pond out there.”

No emergency responders were injured battling the blaze, Vargo said.

Ohio County Sheriff Nelson Croft said that very limited information was available Thursday night, and while it is assumed that the victim of the fire was a resident of the trailer, the decedent had not yet officially been identified.

“Obviously, the state medical examiner has been called in to take custody of the body,” Croft said. “While we believe we know who it is, no names will be released until we have positive identification. But it was a single person alone in the trailer at the time.”

Local officials have turned the case over to state authorities, Croft added. They will identify the victim and determine the cause of the blaze.

“It’s under investigation now by the state fire marshal’s office and the state medical examiner’s office,” the sheriff noted. “We’ll have very little to do with this case.”

Officials applauded the first responders who performed their duties at scene of the tragic incident in brutal conditions.

“God bless the volunteers, because it was rough out there,” Croft said.