Fire near Craigmont claims life

Tools

Story Published: Mar 11, 2009 at 10:31 PM PDT

Story Updated: Mar 11, 2009 at 11:09 PM PDT

By Greg Meyer

CRAIGMONT, Idaho – One person died in an early- morning fire Tuesday near Craigmont.

The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release issued Wednesday that the house fire at U.S. 95 and Lauer Road, was reported around 5:53 a.m.

The house was found to be fully engulfed in flames when deputies arrived on the scene. The house is located outside of the Craigmont city limits and the Craigmont City Fire Department could not respond for liability reasons.

Craigmont Fire Chief Rick Samsel told Action News the fire took place during blizzard conditions.

Individual firefighters from the cities of Nezperce, Winchester, and Craigmont assisted by bringing water to aid with the fire suppression. They also helped with the initial investigation.

Idaho State Fire Marshal, Mike Aanodt, was dispatched to the scene from Coeur d'Alene to investigate the cause of the fire. The Idaho State Police investigations team was also called in from Lewiston. They assisted the Lewis County Sheriff's Office with evidence collection and processing of the scene.

A badly-burned body was found in the debris, and the remains were transported by Lewis County Coroner Robert Pratt to the Ada County's Coroner's Office for an autopsy to try to determine the cause of death and to positively identify the victim.

Samsel said that in fact family members had been notified.

Lewis County Sheriff Brian Brokop said he hoped that the tragedy will move the City of Craigmont to consider starting a rural fire district.

Brokop thanked the volunteers who came to help.

More news articles

Current Weather

Current Temp 40.0 °F

Fair

More Weather

Current Weather

More Weather

Upload directly from your mobile device.

Learn how

YouNews

This content requires the latest Adobe Flash Player and a browser with JavaScript enabled. Click here for a free download of the latest Adobe Flash Player.