A portable heater used to thaw pipes in the basement of northeast Indiana lake home appears to be the source of a fatal fire, according to a preliminary report issued Thursday.
The fire at 2147 Chapman Lake Drive on Wednesday morning appears to have started in the basement, the Kosciusko County Fire Investigation Team said in a statement.
The identity of the body found inside has not been released by officials.
Sheriff’s deputies and five fire departments were sent to the blaze reported about 10:30 a.m.
When they arrived, the house was engulfed in flames, and the fire’s intensity kept firefighters from entering the home, said Sgt. Chad Hill, a spokesman for the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department, for an earlier story.
Two renters living in part of the house had safely escaped the fire and gone to a neighbor’s home to call 911.
The flames spread to a neighboring house to the north at 2141 Chapman Lake Drive.
