WARWICK — Saturday’s fatal fire at 405 Richmond Road in Warwick started as a wood stove fire that extended to the structure itself, State Fire Marshal Peter J. Ostroskey, Warwick Fire Chief Ronald P. Gates and Warwick Police Chief David Shoemaker announced Thursday.
The fire started in the kitchen on the first floor where the wood stove ignited nearby combustibles.
“Last weekend, seven people died in two heating related fires. It will be cold again this weekend and I urge everyone to keep safety in mind while trying to keep warm,” Ostroskey said in a press release.
“This is a small community of neighbors helping neighbors and our hearts are heavy with the loss the Seago family has suffered,” Gates said in the release. The single family home was fully engulfed in fire by the time firefighters first arrived.
Five members of the family, Lucinda Seago and four children ages 7, 9, 12, and 15, perished in the fire. Her husband, Scott, and one child, Vivian, managed to escape.
The fire was jointly investigated by the Warwick Fire and Police Departments and State Police assigned to the Office of the State Fire Marshal and to the Office of Northwestern District Attorney David Sullivan. Assistance was received from the Code Compliance & Enforcement Unit in the Department of Fire Services and the State Police Crime Scene Services Unit.