A house fire near Chickamauga Sunday morning claimed the life of a Walker County teacher and left his wife and two children with serious burns, according to a county spokesperson.

Fire Marshal Scott Forrest says dispatchers first received a call at 7:38am concerning smoke inside a home on Ridgewood Circle.

Crews arrived nine minutes later to find heavy smoke and fire coming from the front of the home.

Heather Millican and her two children, ages 3 and 8, were already out of the house, but her husband, John Millican III, was still trapped inside.

Firefighters searched the home and found him unconscious in a back bedroom. Paramedics transported him to a local hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

An autopsy will be performed to determine his exact cause of death.

Millican's wife

See Full Page