NASHVILLE, Tenn. – A second victim critically injured in a house fire in Bordeaux late last month has died from her injuries. Vanderbilt officials said 101-year-old Novella Bass passed away Tuesday night.
She and her sister, 96-year-old Tommie Katherine Bass, were both in their home in Bordeaux when it caught fire on the evening of July 25.
Novella Bass' sister, known as TK, succumbed to her injuries two days after the fire.
Family members said both women had limited mobility and had to be rescued from the burning home by firefighters.
Novella's adoptive son, Freeman Bass, told NewsChannel 5 she walked with the aid of a walker and was found on her bed on the ground level. TK, legally blind and mobile only with help from a cane, was found collapsed in the floor of a hallway.
Both women were being treated at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in the critical burn unit.
Officials with the Nashville Fire Department said there was no evidence of a single, working smoke detector inside what was left of the three-level house.
Investigators believed the fire started in the ground-level kitchen area, and was likely started when a caretaker accidentally left a hot stove on.
Freeman Bass said both women earned Master's degrees in education. He said both were retired Metro school teachers: Novella Bass having taught English at the former Washington Junior High School, Pearl High School, and even TSU.
TK spent her teaching career at Johnson Elementary School in South Nashville.
Funeral service arrangements were not immediately available.
Past Stories:
Novella Bass, age 101, passed away Tuesday night at Vanderbilt Medical Center.
Tommie Katherine "TK" Bass died July 27 after midnight after suffering burn injuries when her home caught on fire. She was 96-years-old.
