ORRINGTON (AP) — Fire officials are blaming cardboard boxes stored near a wood-burning stove for a weekend house fire that killed a Maine man and his three children and hospitalized the mother.
The state fire marshal’s office said Monday the boxes were within inches of the stove, and that a container of lighter fluid found nearby likely accelerated the fire once the boxes ignited.
Thirty-one-year-old Christine Johnson escaped the Saturday morning fire, but remained hospitalized Monday. Killed were her husband, 30-year-old Benjamin Johnson III, and their children, 9-yearold Ben, 8-year-old Leslie and 4-year-old Ryan.
Autopsy results show that they died of smoke inhalation.
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