Cause of fatal Putnam fire investigated

PUTNAM, Conn. (WTNH) -- Extensive damage is making it difficult for investigators to pinpoint the cause of a fire that took the lives of two young girls in Putnam.

Two little monkeys: a line you usually hear as part of a popular nursery rhyme. Instead stuffed animals represent two young lives lost to Tuesday's devastating fire.

Ten people from five apartments were sent out into the cold night air. The 3-year-old and 6-month-old girls, however, never made it out. Their mother who is pregnant with twins was hospitalized.

"When it hits home it really hurts," said Mayor Pete Place. "I have a deeper feeling for the people of Sandy Hook at this point and what they felt, and what they continue to feel."

The children were in the third floor apartment and that's where their bodies were found hours later. Due to the damage to the building, searchers couldn't get up there until the building was stabilized.

And it's also because of that damage the Fire Marshal tells News 8 the fire remains under investigation and the cause remains undetermined.

There is so much structural damage that an exact area of origin on the third floor and heat source are still unknown. News 8 went to the address listed for the owner of the building.

Smoke billowed from the chimney, but no one answered the door. News 8 has learned the owner was about to lose the building. Still the fire is not suspicious.

"The last day that the owner could make good on the property was yesterday and of course the fire happened overnight," said Mayor Place. "There's no indication of anything of that nature."

"So it might truly be a coincidence," asked News 8's Tina Detelj.

"I think so, yes," said Mayor Place.

The Fire Marshal says some smoke detectors were in the home, but they continue to investigate whether or not they were adequate.