Joshua Lynch

The Virginian-Pilot

(TNS)

GLOUCESTER — Three people were found dead Sunday after a fire destroyed a detached garage with an apartment in Gloucester County, authorities said.

Gloucester County Sheriff’s Office deputies and Gloucester Volunteer Fire & Rescue crews responded to the fire at about 2:42 a.m. in the 4200 block of Hickory Fork Road.

When deputies arrived, they found the detached garage and its upstairs apartment fully engulfed in flames, according to the sheriff’s office.

Authorities learned that three people — two adults and a juvenile — lived in the upstairs apartment. Emergency personnel initially believed the three were still inside because they could not be accounted for.

Once investigators were able to safely enter the structure, they discovered three bodies believed to be of two adults and the juvenile, the sheriff’s office said.

Oxygen tanks were reportedly stored on the lower level of the garage and may have exploded during the fire, according to authorities.

Gloucester County criminal investigators responded to the scene and requested assistance from fire investigators with the Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigations. A death investigator from the Tidewater Office of the Chief Medical Examiner also responded.

The source and cause of the fire remain under investigation, as do the causes of the three deaths, authorities said.

The victims’ names are being withheld pending positive identification. The sheriff’s office said there is no indication of foul play.

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