GARDINER — Investigators say the discovery inside a burned out Water Street apartment initially believed to be human remains turned out to be prop.
Steve McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety, said Friday afternoon that investigators had found human remains inside the building but a short time later he said the remains were in fact not human. He said it appears they were some form of prop resembling a human body.
VIDEO: Firefighters battle Gardiner blaze
McCausland said investigators are continuing to sift through the debris in search of two people who are still missing since the fire.
State Fire Marshal Joseph Thomas said two people remained unaccounted for since the fire, which injured three firefighters and a tenant. Thomas said firefighters are still trying to contact five people, two of whom, Sean Smith and Kerry Davis, have not been spotted since the fire. Thomas said investigators will put the work of finding out what caused the fire on hold until they have accounted for all the victims, particularly Smith and Davis.
Both were tenants of 235 Water St., where the fire started and which suffered the most damage, including collapse of the roof and upper floors. Davis lived in apartment 11 and Smith in apartment 12.
“My office has got two individuals listed as occupants of that building who are unaccounted for,” Thomas said Friday morning. “We’re in the process of trying to determine where they might be.”
Thomas said investigators have yet to speak to three other people — Darren Jones, apartment 7; Robert Gagnon, apartment 8 and Lisa Moore, apartment 10 — but each of them have been spotted out and about since the fire. There has been no word on Smith or Davis, however.
Investigators must assume that Smith and Davis could still be in the building until officials can confirm they are not.
“Our investigation is somewhat being held up because as we stabilize the building and begin to take debris out of that building,” Thomas said. “We are doing it in a manner where we may be able to account for individuals should there be any victims inside that building.”
Thomas, who was on scene Friday morning with other investigators and spoke at a press conference at city hall, asked that the five people who lived the buildings in the area of 235 Water St., including Smith and Davis, to contact authorities at 624-7076 so they can be accounted for. He said authorities would search the burned out buildings as soon as it’s safe to do so.
Water Street remained blocked off Friday morning.
Gardiner Mayor Thomas Harnett on Thursday called the fire a “community disaster.” It is believed to have started at 235 Water St. and spread into three connected buildings, displacing 12 people and sending one tenant to the hospital for treatment of smoke inhalation. He was later released from the hospital.
Three firefighters were also injured when the roof partially collapsed at 235 Water St., causing falling bricks to hit them. The falling bricks also damaged a Winthrop fire truck, authorities said Friday.
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