Fire probe fails to find cause
3 students died in Jan. 21 blaze near Marist College Investigators say smoking materials and human behavior can’t be ruled out.
THE investigation into a January fire that killed three college students has concluded without a determination about what caused the blaze, authorities said on Friday.
“The cause of the fire is ... undetermined,” stated a press release issued by the town of Poughkeepsie Police Department.
The release said the Jan. 21 fire, in a house at 112 Fairview Ave., near Marist College, was investigated by town police, the Fairview Fire Department, the Arlington Fire Department and the Dutchess County Department of Emergency Response.
Investigators concluded the fire began at the rear of the first floor and ruled out six possible causes: the heating system, por-
table heating units, cooking equipment, spontaneous ignition, lighting and solar energy.
The probe, however, concluded that smoking materials, electrical distribution, electrical devices and human behavior could not be ruled out as possible causes, the press release stated.
The fire, which started about 1:30 a.m. on Jan. 21, claimed the lives of Kerry R. Fitzsimons, 21, of Commack, a Marist College student; Eva Block, 21, of Woodbridge, Conn., also a student at Marist; and Kevin P. Johnson, 21, of New Canaan, Conn., a student at Dutchess Community College.
Four other people who were in the house at the time were able to escape.
The house, which was town down shortly after the fire was extinguished because of the danger its instability posed to adjacent buildings, was a few blocks east of Marist College.