Lebanon
Lebanon Fire Investigator Duane Egner said the official cause of the fire that devastated one unit and damaged three others has been ruled “undetermined.”
Officials were able to determine that the fire started in the kitchen-area near a stove, refrigerator and portable washing machine, but “we couldn’t pinpoint the item that first ignited or what the ignition source was,” Egner said recently.
A private fire investigator determined that the control knobs to the stove appeared to be in the off position, leading officials to believe that it wasn’t a cooking fire, he said.
State Fire Marshal’s Office investigator Anthony Booth aided Lebanon with the investigation.
It appears that all of the potential causes were accidental in nature, Booth said recently.
“It doesn’t look like it was any type of arson,” he said. “We couldn’t figure out what of the accidental causes might have caused it.”
The 100-unit apartment complex is owned by Twin Pines Housing Trust. A total of nine people were taken to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center for smoke inhalation following the 1.55 a.m. blaze.
The fire broke out in a unit rented by Adrienna Graham.
Executive Director Andrew Winter said on Monday that all four of the families who were affected have been relocated to other apartments at Crafts Hill.
The three smoke-damaged units are undergoing renovations and will be available to tenants soon. The fourth unit needs extensive renovations.