Officials Identify Orrington Fatal Fire Victims [UPDATE]
Orrington Fire
Officials have released the identities of most of the victims of this morning's fire in Orrington that killed two people and injured three others.
Two people died in an early morning fire in Orrington. The State Fire Marshal's Office says the bodies of a man and woman were found in the rubble and will be transported to the State Medical Examiner's Office in Augusta. The woman has been identified as 55-year-old Shelley Lynn Murphy. Officials are still trying to contact the relatives of the middle-aged man who died, and so his identity hasn't been released. Three others escaped the fire that was reported at around 2:30 Saturday morning. They are 57-year-old Richard Murphy, 34-year-old Douglas Davis, and 52-year-old Tanya Clapp. Richard is Shelley's brother.
The house at 359 Brewer Lake Road was totally destroyed in the fire. Public Safety spokesman Steve McCausland says the three survivors are two men and a woman, who suffered minor burns and smoke inhalation. Early indications are that the fire started in a first floor bedroom, which was occupied by a man and a woman, and then spread quickly to the second floor where three others were sleeping. The bodies of the two who died were on the second floor. The third occupant of the upstairs, a man, was able to escape by the stairs.
Investigators say the fire was discovered by the occupants of the first floor, who alerted the others. The house did have a working smoke detector.
We'll update this story as more details become available.