Investigators Still Digging for Cause of Fatal Okla. Fire
Source Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Okla.
March 09--Two months after an early morning fire took the lives of five people in west Bartlesville, the cause of the blaze is still being investigated, according to local officials.
Bartlesville Police Department Capt. Jay Hastings confirmed Friday that officials know the fire originated on an enclosed rear porch of the home, located in the 300 block of Northwest Sunset Boulevard. He said he had spoken with a Bartlesville Fire Department official Friday about the status of the investigation.
"We haven't gotten any word from the fire department, or fire investigators or the ATF," Hastings said. "We're just waiting for them to determine a cause. It's really not the police department -- we don't determine causes of fires -- but we've been working together in that area. We've interviewed people and collected evidence and done our end of the deal, and we're just kind of waiting for the fire department to determine what caused the fire."
Hastings said he is sure the length of the investigation into every fire is different, depending on the fire.
"This one, nothing's jumping right out as to what might have caused the fire," he said. "That makes it a little bit more difficult. I do know they were checking the electrical system and they were checking the hot water tank. They know where it started, they just don't know what caused it."
Hastings said authorities are awaiting lab results in hopes that an official determination can be made.
"Worst case scenario is they say it's 'undetermined.' I don't know what we're going to do at that point," he said.
Officials responded to the fire around 4:55 a.m. Jan. 4.
Once the flames were extinguished, the bodies of Kevin Michael Lomax, 19, Destiny Jo Daugherty, 18, Jeremy Wayne Blair, 38, Shelby Renea Sanders, 21, and a 17-year-old male -- whose name has not been released but who has unofficially been identified as William "Chase" Wright -- were discovered in the residence.
The five reportedly died of smoke inhalation.
Copyright 2014 - Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Okla.
