The cause of this week’s deadly apartment fire on Langarth Street West remains under investigation, but officials say the unit in question did not have a working smoke alarm.
London Fire officials say the deceased resident had taken the battery out of his smoke detector, which was found laying on a table in another room of his basement apartment.
London Police have identified the victim as 39-year-old Christopher Joseph Manuel.
He was found inside his apartment unit at 140 Langarth Street West around 11:32 p.m. Monday. Firefighters extricated him from the unit and performed CPR until Middlesex-London EMS arrived. Manuel was transported to hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Police say the investigation into the fire has so far shown that a resident of the apartment building was alerted to the blaze by the smoke alarm in his own unit. The man initially thought the fire was outside the building, but when thick smoke was seen in the lower level, he activated the building’s fire alarm and other residents then fled the property.
No other residents were injured.
Just what sparked the blaze and the exact cause of Manuel’s death is still under investigation by the Office of the Fire Marshal, the West Region Coroner and members of the London Police Service Criminal Investigation Division.
Officers say they don’t believe the fire is criminally suspicious, but they remain on scene on Langarth St. West as the investigation unfolds.
Damage from the blaze is estimated at $80,000
Source: Investigation Reveals No Smoke Detector in Deadly Apartment Fire | (CFPL AM) AM 980
