A New Year’s Day house fire in the Bennington County town of Sandgate proved fatal for two residents and left three others injured, according to a Facebook post from the Arlington Fire Department.
State police said in a press release that the fire was being investigated and asked for the public’s help, but did not say whether the fire was being treated as suspicious. The identities of the victims were not released pending further investigation.
Multiple firefighter crews from Vermont and bordering New York municipalities responded after the fire was reported at a home on Chunks Brook Road shortly before 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, January 1.
The first firefighters on the scene reported “heavy fire” and confirmed that two people were trapped inside the house, according to the Facebook post. After eventually quelling the blaze and ensuring the structure was safe to enter, firefighters spent two hours searching the house.
“Tragically, two members of the household succumbed to the fire,” the fire department’s Facebook post read. Three other residents sustained injuries and were transported to Southwestern Vermont Medical Center for treatment, according to the posting.
Two people who sustained burn-related injuries were transferred to hospital burn units in New York, state police spokesman Adam Silverman said in an email. The third person who was injured, who lived in a different part of the residence, was released from the local hospital after treatment of “non-burn-related injuries,” Silverman added.
The Chief Medical Examiner’s Office in Burlington was scheduled to perform autopsies on the two fire victims today.
The Vermont Department of Public Safety Fire and Explosion Investigation Unit and state police criminal division detectives are looking into the fire’s source, according to state police.
In a Facebook post Thursday, the Manchester Police Department thanked the “more than 20 fire departments and 2 EMS agencies from 2 states and 4 counties” that joined in the response to the fire.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Sandgate fire on New Year’s Day leaves two dead, three others injured .