Bedroom candle might have ignited fire in SC home where body was found, coroner says

A woman’s body was found inside a house where there was a fire early Sunday morning, according to the Aiken County Coroner’s Office .

Joyce Barfield, a 78-year-old Gloverville resident, died at the scene of the fire, Coroner Darryl Ables said in a news release.

At about 5:30 a.m., members of the coroner’s office responded to a home in the 100 block of School Street for a house fire involving a death, according to the release.

Barfield was found in her home by fire department personnel, who responded to an active structure fire, the coroner’s office said. She was pronounced dead at 5:59 a.m., and an autopsy will be performed in Newberry in an attempt to determine a cause of death, according to the release.

No other injuries were reported.

The fire is believed to have ignited in a bedroom from a candle, the coroner’s office said.

There was no word if the home had lost power as a result of Hurricane Helene, but 77,142 outages were still reported in Aiken County as of Sunday afternoon.

The death is being investigated by both the coroner’s office and the Aiken County Sheriff’s Office .