By Rick Pfeiffer/pfeifferr@gnnewspaper.com
Town of Niagara Police say they now know how a 59-year-old man died in a raging house fire.
However, they still don’t know what sparked the blaze.
Town Police Chief James Suitor said an autopsy showed 59-year-old Theodore Smith died of smoke inhalation. Smith, the resident of a lower, rear apartment in the house at 4172 Military Road, was found dead in his bathroom after firefighters battled their way through flames and heavy smoke to find him there on Feb. 12.
“We’ve learned that tests show there was no evidence of an accelerant at the fire scene,” Suitor said. “But we don’t have a final report yet from the county fire investigators on what the cause of the fire was.”
Suitor said the blaze was spotted by a passer-by who called for help. When the first police officers arrived on the scene they found neighbors helping to evacuate residents of the home.
In all, eight people living in three apartments were taken out of the residence. The residents ranged in age from 16 to 70.
Investigators were initially uncertain of whether the dwelling had smoke detectors.
“There were smoke detectors,” Suitor said, “but there was so much damage it would be hard to tell if they were or were not working.”
Volunteers from Niagara Active, Lewiston #2, Frontier and Upper Mountain fire companies battled the blaze, which appeared to have started in Smith’s apartment. Police said there was “heavy smoke and flames” coming from the area of the apartment.
Rescuers said the “heavy fire conditions” in Smith’s apartment kept them from reaching him.
Town building inspectors, who went through the fire-ravaged structure in an effort to see if there were any building code violations, said they have not made any final determinations. Inspectors said because permits had been issued that would allow modifications to the building, it would take some more time to determine if any unauthorized changes had been made.
The building inspectors did say they have asked that the dwelling be demolished.
