3 dead after house fire in Bethel

Three people died in a house fire in Bethel last Friday.

Bethel Deputy Police Chief Christopher Wigner said Doreen Black of Bethel, Gregory Alfred of Kwethluk and Nastasia Nick of Nunapitchuk died over the weekend after being evacuated from the community for treatment.

“They were flown to Anchorage by rescue helicopter and then two of the victims were transported to Seattle,” Wigner said Monday afternoon. “At this time, we have received information that all three are deceased.”

Wigner said Bethel Fire Department and Police initially responded to a report of a house fire at 1019 Ridgecrest Dr. around 2:15 p.m. Friday.

When they arrived five minutes later, Wigner said, emergency responders saw smoke coming from the house. According to the incident report, firefighters went inside and found Black, Alfred and Nick unconscious and suffering from severe burns. An ambulance and a Bethel police vehicle took the three to the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation hospital, where they were admitted in critical condition.

It is unclear who owns the building that caught fire.

Wigner said local emergency responders spent the entire weekend trying to determine the cause of the fire. He said the state fire marshal’s office traveled to Bethel on Saturday to assist.

“It appears that the fire was started accidentally, possibly by a cigarette, which started a fire on the sofa and spread to part of the apartment,” Wigner said.

Department of Public Safety spokesman Tim DeSpain wrote in an email that fire investigators discovered another fire that started under a garbage bag in the home’s arctic entrance, where they also found cigarette butts.

As of Tuesday morning, the state investigation into the fire was still ongoing, but DeSpain wrote that the fire was “not suspicious.”