COLUMBUS – Officials say smoking or fireworks caused an accidental January blaze in a Franklinton duplex that left a man and a woman dead.
An investigation by the Columbus Fire Department released Monday concludes that a woman was smoking on the porch at the same time children were playing with fireworks, Battalion Chief Steve Martin said.
Officials with the Fire and Explosives Investigation Unit learned that family members were playing with legal novelty fireworks and smoking in the area around the front porch of the duplex on Brehl Avenue on the morning of Jan. 18 when investigation say one of those actions lit a cardboard box on fire, which led to the blaze quickly moving into the house, Martin said.
When firefighters arrived, the porch and first floor were heavily involved in flames, which quickly spread throughout the structure. Martin says crews located one fire victim in a second floor bedroom and removed the person, but efforts to resuscitate them were unsuccessful. After the fire was extinguished, Martin says the second victim was found in the kitchen.
The 53-year-old woman who was smoking was not one of those killed. She was taken to Mount Carmel West hospital for treatment, and a 28-year-old man escaped without injuries, according to reports at the time.
Five other people, including three children, escaped. A girl was taken to a hospital for minor burns. Fire officials said several pets also died in the fire.
Martin says initial reports from people at the scene that someone had thrown a Molotov cocktail incendiary device at the house were proven false.