3 dead following Bethel house fire

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

Acting Bethel 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 and then two of the victims were flown to Seattle,” Wigner said Monday afternoon. “At present, we have received information that all three have died.”

Wigner said Bethel firefighters and police initially responded to a report of a fire at a home at 1019 Ridgecrest Dr. around 2:15 p.m. Friday.

When they arrived five minutes later, Wigner said, first responders saw smoke coming from the house. According to the incident report, firefighters went inside and found Black, Alfred and Nick unconscious and severely burned. An ambulance and Bethel police vehicle took the three men to Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation Hospital, where they were listed in critical condition.

It is not clear who owns the building that caught fire.

Wigner said local first responders spent the weekend trying to figure out the cause of the fire. He said the state fire marshal's office visited Bethel Saturday to help.

“It appears the fire was started accidentally, perhaps by a cigarette [that] started a fire on the couch and spread to part of the residence,” Wigner said.

Department of Public Safety spokesman Tim DeSpain wrote in an email that investigators discovered another fire started under a trash bag at the Arctic entrance to the home, where they also found cigarette butts .

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