A house fire that killed a 71-year-old man, two Monee Elementary School students and a Crete-Monee High School student March 25 was likely electrical and started accidentally, the Crete Fire Department said in a news release Thursday.
The Fire Department is still working with the Illinois State Fire Marshal’s office to investigate the fire on Chalet Court’s exact cause.
Fire Chief Neal Haemker said investigators do not know whether the house had working smoke detectors due to the condition of the home’s interior when firefighters were able to enter.
Firefighters were called to the one-story home on Chalet Court at about 1 a.m. March 25 and tried to search the home but withdrew due to rapidly deteriorating conditions including heavy fire and a partial roof collapse, according to a village news release.
They brought the fire under control in about 40 minutes and, once conditions allowed entered the building, found the man and three students dead.
The Will County coroner’s office identified the man as 71-year-old Walter Palmer. The coroner said all four victims died as a result of the fire. Autopsies were performed but the final cause of death is pending police and toxicology reports, the office said.