KENORA — One person was found dead in a home after a house fire in Keewatin, Ontario Provincial Police say.
According to a media release issued Tuesday morning by police, officers, firefighters, and EMS were called about a residential fire on Monday shortly after 3 p.m. on Tenth Street, which is off Highway 17, in the Keewatin area.
One person was inside the home; they were pronounced dead at the scene, said police.
Kenora Fire and Emergency Services got the first call to the scene about a potential house fire, said Hayley McLeary, the acting sergeant of regional media and communications for the OPP’s northwest region. She said that the OPP were then dispatched after firefighters entered the home, knocked down the flames, and found the body.
The circumstances of the fire and the fatality are under “active investigation,” police said, which includes the OPP’s Northwest Region Crime Unit and Forensic Identification Services, along with officials of the Ontario Fire Marshal to determine what caused the fire.
“Any major investigation like this where we don't know the cause of what happened, we'll engage our crime unit — they just have a lot more tools to assist in investigations,” McLeary said. “Then, as well, with the forensics team they'll come in, analyze, gather some evidence, and just kind of help us.”
“Again, they're just better equipped for obtaining that kind of evidence for us just to aid in the Ontario Fire Marshal's investigation.”
It’s too early in the investigation to determine the circumstances surrounding the fire or the person’s death, McLeary said, including whether the blaze was suspicious in nature.
“This is pretty standard for fire investigations that we conduct, but we don't know what caused it,” she added.
