A house fire at 5208 Mosby Road claimed two lives in Meridian Thursday evening, authorities said.

The victims, 63-year-old Jacqueline and 29-year-old Tyler Anderson, were mother and son, according to Meridian Fire Marshall Jason Collier. 

“The cause was accidental. There was unattended cooking left on the stove,” Collier said. 

Collier said authorities believed both died of smoke inhalation.

“There were at least two rooms heavily damaged by fire,” Collier said. “But there was a lot of (high) heat and smoke throughout the rest of the house.”

The home may not have had working smoke detectors, which could have alerted the family earlier, Collier said.

“We don’t believe there were any working smoke detectors in the house because neighbors and passerby were the first ones to notice,” Collier said. “Smoke detectors would have alerted them a lot sooner.”

Collier said firefighters can examine smoke detectors after fires to see if they were activated. The smoke detector firefighters examined in the home’s living room didn’t go off during the fire.

Neighbor Kasey Young had just returned home from work around 6 p.m. when another neighbor told him about the fire. He said he and his brother tried to get in the house by knocking down the door, “but it was too hot… but it would have probably blasted us if we had.”

Young said the fire was concentrated in the back of the home, and he tried to use a neighbor’s hose to put it out, but there wasn’t enough water pressure. 

Early reports suggested that an 11-year-old child was missing.

Deputy Fire Chief Ricky Leister said that, when dispatched, firefighters were told that there may be three victims inside the home.

Firefighters confirmed only two victims and learned later that evening that the third person “was not even there (at the home) at all,” according to Leister.

Collier asked that residents check their own smoke detectors and that of their family members to make sure they worked before a fire.

“Everybody should have working smoke detectors,” Collier said. “They’re not expensive and there are several ways to get them for free for those that can’t afford it. There’s just no excuse. It really can save your life and that of the people you love.”