By MATT APUZZO
Associated Press Writer
February 26, 2005, 4:58 PM EST
NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- A Bridgeport apartment fire that killed a young mother and her two sons appears unlikely to be arson, fire investigators said Saturday after reviewing evidence in what was originally deemed a suspicious blaze. "It's still under investigation pending the result of the autopsies, but right now there's nothing to suggest it's a criminal matter," said Sgt. Scott Llewellyn, an investigator in the state fire marshal's office.
Tonechia Blackwood, 27, and her two sons, Elijah Boyd, 5, and 4-month-old Dwayne Dennis were killed in the blaze. The fire started in the family's first-floor apartment, investigators said. The second-floor of the three-story apartment house was being renovated and a tenant on the third floor escaped injury.
Police were called to the scene Friday night, when investigators believed the fire might have been set intentionally. Early results of the investigation led them to get a warrant to search and control the property. It was a precautionary move, as Bridgeport Assistant Fire Chief Fred Haschak said the fire was "possibly of suspicious origin."
Investigators did not say what caused the fire or what showed them it was not criminal. Those findings will be released after the autopsy reports are released and the investigation is complete, they said. "It was a very emotional scene," said Mayor John Fabrizi, who was at the fire scene Friday night. "It was tragic. I know the firefighters really felt it, just from the looks on their faces."
The fire was reported about 10:30 p.m. A bystander kicked in the door to the first-floor apartment but was unable to rouse the three. "I kicked in the door to see if anyone was in there," Pablo Garcia told the Connecticut Post. "I almost got burned."
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