Spartanburg Fire Assistant Chief of Operations tells Inside Edition Digital it was “hot as hell.”
Investigators are working to determine how the furnace inside a South Carolina home where an elderly couple was found dead last week reached an internal temperature about 200 degrees higher than the temperature believed to be the heater's maximum.
Spartanburg Fire Assistant Chief of Operations Brad Hall tells Inside Edition Digital that the internal temperatures of furnaces like that of which was found in the home where Joan Littlejohn, 84, and Glennwood Fowler, 82, were found dead Saturday can reach between 700 and 800 degrees. But a thermal imaging camera pointed in the general direction of the furnace, located in the house's basement, clocked in at 1,000 degrees, according to Hall.
The temperature was recorded after the heater had been deactivated, according to a police report obtained by WYFF. "The heater was so hot it looked as if the basement was currently on fire," a firefighter said.
Fowler and Littlejohn were discovered by a police officer and paramedic after family members requested a welfare check on the couple, who family members said they had not heard from in three days, the police report said.
The couple's body temperatures surpassed 106 degrees, exceeding the measurable index of the device the paramedic used to attempt to take their temperatures. The standard body temperature of adults is considered 98.6 degrees.
Hall also responded to the home, which he described as "hot as hell."
There to inspect for potential carbon monoxide poisoning, Hall says the home was so hot that candles had melted and fallen over and that moving through the house in just a sweater and t-shirt felt nearly unbearable. The condition of the house was not dissimilar to homes after a fire is put out, Hall says, though there was no fire.
The Spartanburg Fire Department and other local authorities ventilated the home by opening all of the windows and doors and brought in special ventilation fans to air out and cool down the house. Still, it took a considerable amount of time for the temperature to drop, according to Hall.
"Upon looking at it, I stated the residence was at 96 degrees," a responding officer said in the police report. "It read this temperature after the house had been open for around two and a half hours."
The furnace, though scorching hot, had “no burning, no discoloration, no loss of paint,” Hall says. "This was not a fire, just a very hot furnace."
No foul play is suspected in the couple's deaths. The coroner is testing to see if the couple suffered carbon monoxide poisoning, but firefighters did check the carbon monoxide levels in the home and did not find that they were above normal, officials said.
Fowler and Littlejohn had told their family last Wednesday that the gas heater and gas hot water heater both were out and the home was getting too cold, according to the police report. Family members came to the home started "fiddling" with the hot water heater until its pilot light turned back on. They then left, and after not hearing from Fowler or Littlejohn for several days, they became concerned. Fowler and Littlejohn suffered from health issues and were not easily mobile, their family told authorities.
"You were the first man I looked up to next to my father whom I'm sure feels exactly the same way," Fowler's grandson wrote in a tribute to his grandfather on Facebook. "I feel God makes no mistakes I just wished we had more time together."
"I will always cherish the moments we had," he continued. "I'm going to miss you Grandpa ... take your rest my number one guy love you forever."
"I’m hurting right now now," Littlejohn's loved one wrote on social media. "If you have family members that you love and haven’t seen in a while go see them and tell them that you love them before it’s too late. Joan Littlejohn I’m gonna miss you and love you auntie."
The Spartanburg Police Department did not respond Inside Edition Digital's request for more information.
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