The body of a 70-year-old man was found during a house fire Saturday afternoon in northern Osage County.
Dead is Emmet Hallagin, who grew up in Barnsdall and leaves behind his wife, Mary Jo, a son, Blaine and two daughters, Diane Michael and Ida Shrakes.
Hulah and Boulanger volunteer firefighters were dispatched to the fire 19 miles north of Pawhuska on OK 99 around 2:30 p.m. and found the trailer home fully involved when they arrived.
Osage County Chief Deputy Sheriff Charlie Cartwright said that Hallagin, who was in a room that had a mattress on the floor near a space heater, had told his 66-year-old wife, Mary Jo Hallagin, to go out and turn off the electrical breaker because they had a fire.
She did so, but he never came out. She tried to go back in to rescue him, but the smoke was too thick, Cartwright said. Mrs. Hallagin, who is asthmatic, was taken to Jane Phillips Hospital in Bartlesville, from which she was released Tuesday.
Cartwright said that Emmet Hallagin had a heart condition and the state Medical Examiner would determine the cause of death. Cartwright said the state Fire Marshal’s Office was called to the scene to determine the cause of the fire after it cooled down sufficiently.
Tom Williams of Barnsdall grew up with Hallagin, who was born near the Barnsdall Rural Fire Department off 123 east of town.
“He was an avid coon hunter and always had 10 to 20 dogs,” Williams recalled. “He was a big ole’ boy, over 6 feet tall, but a real quiet guy.”
Hallagin was preceded in death by one son, Billy Joe Hallagin, who passed in 2001.
Funeral services are incomplete at Stumpff Funeral Home in Barnsdall.
