WARWICK — Officials Monday confirmed that Lucinda Seago, 42, and four of her children, ages 7, 9, 12 and 15, died in a fire at their Richmond Road home Saturday.
Her husband, Scott Seago, survived the fire along with one of the couple’s five children, the Northwestern district attorney’s office said.
On the property, an arrangement of flowers, a rainbow lei and a wooden cross huddled around a white placard on a tree identifying the destroyed home as The Old Whittemore Farm.
Schools were in session and Town Coordinator David Young carried on with his job.
“In some level you know this is real but it just takes time to sort it out,” Young said. “He (Scott Seago) survived with one of his five children and the clothes on his back.
“People have asked what can they do to help,” Young added. “Go sneak up on a Warwick firefighter and give him a hug.”
Young explained how the town has been working to help Seago and his daughter. Five potential housing options were found, and they have settled on one. Seago and his daughter will be moving in come Wednesday. A member of the community has also volunteered to furnish the home.
“I got an email from a lady that I’m doing this unless you tell me to stop and I replied ‘go, go, go,’” Young said.
Others have purchased a cellphone for Seago, who works in internet technology. Donations can go to the family’s church in Turners Falls, Our Lady of Czestochowa. Funeral services are currently being arranged.
One of the children attended Pioneer Valley Regional School in Northfield and others attended the Warwick Community School or were home-schooled.
Pioneer Valley Superintendent Ruth Miller said Monday went as normally as possible, and counselors were made available.
“Pioneer and Warwick teachers and staff did an excellent job of giving every student what they needed,” Miller said.
Young said he was grateful that the media for the most part respected the requests of the town and family to withhold the names of the family members until Monday.
And Young knows that the community is continuing to come to grips with what happened.
“It’s just not quite real yet,” Young said. “We definitely haven’t unearthed all of our emotions and worked through them. We don’t quite know what’s next.”
Emergency responders were called to the scene of the fire about 12:45 a.m. The first responders arrived within minutes, but the home was engulfed in flames. According to Young, at least 16 departments provided assistance throughout the night. They drafted water from a nearby reservoir.
State Fire Marshal Peter Ostroskey said over the weekend that early reports had the fire as having started in the kitchen’s wood stove, though the origin of the fire hasn’t been confirmed.
“This is a fire that started from an accidental cause,” Ostroskey said.
There were no updates on the investigation at the end of the day Monday.
Gates said when responders arrived the father and daughter were running down the driveway. The home’s windows were already blown out, and the roof was caving in.