Fire investigators say overheated electrical equipment in a home office is what caused a deadly house fire six months ago that killed a beloved local sportswriter and her three young children and family dog.
Jessi Pierce's death rocked the local hockey community. Pierce, 37, covered the Minnesota Wild as the correspondent for NHL.com for the past decade.
Minnesota State Fire Marshal Dan Krier says the smoke alarm near the family's bedrooms would have activated roughly four minutes after the fire started, and conditions leading to the nearest escape would have been impassable almost immediately after it started.
"They had one minute from when they had to be notified," Krier explains. "They had to wake up, they had to respond and make a decision that they had to leave. I think that's really important for us to bring up because this fire occurred early in the morning. They were sleeping. To wake up and to make a decision that is a life or death decision in one minute is really difficult."
Krier says the office where the fire started did not have its own electrical outlet and the equipment would have been plugged into another room. Extensive fire damage and a roof collapse prevented investigators from verifying the exact location of all smoke alarms. Through the investigation and interviews, they determined there was a smoke alarm near the bedrooms and likely another near the basement stairs.
The Fire Marshal's Office recommends plugging devices directly into wall outlets when possible, and regularly checking cords and devices for damage or overheating.
The home was built in 1952 and was typical of residential construction from that era, including having fewer electrical outlets than homes built today and smoke alarms that were not interconnected.
Krier was at the scene and said determining what happened is an important part of the responsibility of fire investigators, but it does not change the profound loss experienced by the family and community.
“There is no investigation finding that can change the loss this family is living with,” Krier said. “But we hope this investigation can help bring some understanding to what happened and remind all of us how quickly a residential fire can develop. Sometimes there may be very little time to react, which is why every second matters.”
The investigation will conclude once the written report is completed, which should occur in the next 30 days.
