Austin mother of 5 who died in house fire identified

Published 9:56 am Monday, August 28, 2017

A mother of five who died in an Austin house fire on Friday has been identified as Takeshia Greene, 40, of Austin, according to the Austin Police Department.

An autopsy showed the cause of death was smoke inhalation. There were no signs of trauma to her body.

Funeral arrangements are pending with Clasen-Jordan Mortuary.

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A friend of her daughter has launched a donation drive on Facebook to assist with funeral costs.

“They lost everything in the fire,” Nicole Jessica Beeman wrote on the post at
tinyurl.com/greenefuneral.

She added: “I didn’t know her very well but I know her daughter and the few times I met her and by what one of her friends said she would give the shirt off her back with no expectation of anything in return.”

Emergency responders were called to the  fire at 5:27 a.m. on Friday at 1608 Fourth St. SW. Greene was found unresponsive in her bedroom. She was pronounced dead at the scene by Gold Cross responders when CPR failed to revive her.

The Red Cross responded to help Greene’s five children and a grandchild who lived at the home with her, according to Austin Police Det. Todd Clennon.

The State Fire Marshal’s investigation determined the cause of the blaze to be a cooking fire.

Authorities have notified her next of kin.

According to the State Fire Marshal’s website as of Aug. 3, there have been 35 fire deaths statewide so far this year.  There were 36 for all of 2016.

Greene is the second Austin resident to die as the result of a home fire in 2017. A 58-year-old man died Feb. 9 as a result of a cooking fire.

The one-story house with a full basement was built in 1973. It is owned by the Austin Housing and Redevelopment Authority, which rents housing to low-income households.