Anxious wait for students as fire near University of Maine leaves five dead

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/nov/02/fire-apartment-house-university-maine-five-dead

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After an intense blaze tore through an apartment house near the University of Maine, killing five people and critically injuring another, investigators were back at the scene on Sunday hunting for clues to the cause of the state’s deadliest fire in three decades.

In heavy, wet snow, police and fire investigators moved in and out of the destroyed, three-storey building. The road was still blocked off and a memorial had sprung up that included flowers and a pumpkin.

Even as the cause of the fire and identity of the victims remained a mystery late on Saturday, police and fire officials had sorted out one element of confusion by the end of a day that sent ripples of anxiety and sorrow through the campus and the city of Portland: everybody who had been in the house was accounted for.

The state fire marshal’s spokesman, Steve McCausland, said most, if not all, the residents of the 94-year-old house were USM students, but said there was no indication that students were killed in the fire. Later on Saturday, Portland’s fire chief, Jerry LaMoria, said it was not known if any of the victims were students.

LaMoria said the investigation was in a preliminary stage and could take several days before they know how the fire started. Investigators will be looking to see if there were any code violations at the house.

Two bodies were found on the second floor and three on the third floor.

Anxious students spent the day trying to get information about what happened.

“Everyone is just trying to find out if their friends are hurt,” said Sam Hill, the editor of the university’s paper.

A few students visited the student union where Red Cross workers offered counselling and comfort. As they came and went, students hugged each other; some cried.

“It’s definitely kind of a shock that something like this could happen so close to home,” said Joshua Dodge, a student senate member. “If students were involved, these are people we see every day.”

One person suffered severe burns and jumped from a second-storey window. He was reported in critical condition in the burn unit of a Boston hospital, McCausland said. A second person was treated and released from a hospital; seven people escaped from the burning building.

The university president, David Flanagan, said at least one of the people who escaped was a student.

Damien Croxford of South Portland was driving through the area on his way to work when he saw the house in flames and the entire neighbourhood cloaked in smoke. He said he found a badly burned person lying in the street breathing and conscious after he called 911.

Croxford said the heat from the fire was so intense that he had to back away from the scene. “It’s going to stay with me for a long time,” he said.

The fire, Maine’s deadliest since a 1984 blaze killed five in Hartland, ripped a hole through the roof of the house and both apartment units were badly burned.

Nathan Long, who said he woke up to the smell of smoke when his alarm clock went off, told the Portland Press Herald that he did not hear any fire alarms going off. He yelled “fire!” and ran to the back of the house, where another person was opening a window. They both jumped on to a porch roof, then to the ground, where he saw the badly burned body of another person.

“I feel pretty lucky. I’m kind of numb,” Long told the newspaper. He said he lived with four other people and that he did not know the fate of his room-mates beyond the one with whom he escaped.

Investigators have interviewed all the people who escaped and are still working to identify the victims.

The neighbourhood is a dense, residential area of single and multi-family homes where full-time residents and students live.

The Press Herald reported the house is owned by Gregory Nisbet. A phone number listed in his name was out of service on Saturday and nobody answered the door at his home.