Three students perish in fire, cause undetermined

Town of Poughkeepsie officials have confirmed the identities of the three victims of a house fire that occurred early the morning of Saturday, Jan. 21, at 112 Fairview Avenue. The names of the deceased were not released over the weekend because not all family members had been notified.

The three victims of the fire have been confirmed by Town officials as: Eva R. Block, Kerry R. Fitzsimons and Kevin P. Johnson. Block, 21, was a Marist College senior and Woodbridge, Conn. native. Fitzsimons, 21, was a Marist senior and Commack, N.Y. native. Johnson, 21, of New Canaan, Conn., was enrolled at Marist from 2008-2010.

Marist College students leased the rental property where the fire occurred. The residence was located a little more than a mile away from the Marist campus.

"Our police department responded to a 9-1-1 call of a reported working structure fire at 112 Fairview Avenue at approximately 1:33 [Saturday] morning," Town of Poughkeepsie Police Chief Thomas Mauro said.

The Town of Poughkeepsie Police Department was the leading law enforcement agency in a joint investigative effort that included the fire districts of Fairview, Roosevelt, Hyde Park and Arlington.

"The first arriving unit did try to make an interior attack into the building," Fairview Fire Chief Chris Maeder said. "They were forced back by heat and flames due to the overwhelming involvement of the structure and they had to back out. We were able to get the fire under control within about 90 minutes of arriving on the scene."

When The Circle went to press on Tuesday evening, the cause of the fire had yet to be determined.

Maeder was quoted in Tuesday's Poughkeepsie Journal as saying that there was "no indication whatsoever" that the fire was set intentionally.

Six female Marist students leased the property, four of which were present in the home at the time of the fire. In addition to the four residents of the house, three additional guests were present, totaling seven individuals that were in the house when the fire occurred.

The Poughkeepsie Journal has reported that the four residents of the home present at the time of the fire were Emily Bodiford, Brittney Sinha, Kerry Fitzsimons and Eva Block.

Of the seven individuals in the home at the time of the fire, three of which were guests, four managed to exit the residence safely.

"We have interviewed four surviving victims of this fire," Morrow said. "Two are residents of the house, renting the home. Two are their male friends or boyfriends."

It is now known that Sinha and a male friend escaped the home by jumping out a first floor bedroom window. Bodiford and a male friend escape by jumping out a second floor bedroom window to dodge the blaze.

The students said to Town officials that they went to sleep at around 12 or 12:30 a.m. after a social gathering and there was no issue in the home at that time.

Mauro explained at the press conference that between 1 and 1:30 a.m., Bodiford and her male guest jumped out of the second floor bedroom window after discovering that the bedroom doorknob was hot.

At roughly the same time, Sinha and her male guest escaped through a first floor window.

"The four survivors were transported to St. Francis Hospital where they were fortunately treated and released," Mauro said. "They suffered no significant injuries or burns. They were treated for smoke inhalation and minor injuries."

John Gildard, the director of safety and security at Marist, said that no similar incidents involving Marist students and fatal fires have occurred in recent years.

The home was demolished early Saturday evening.

"We don't typically knock down buildings after they are involved in a fire," Maeder said. "We made the decision in conjunction with the Town and using an engineer that the structure was not safe."

Many Marist students rent off-campus residences on Fairview Avenue and nearby Lake Street.