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The probe of the South Bend fire ended with the “cause
undetermined," said State Fire Marshal Steve Jones, calling that
a common determination in fires "when a definitive cause cannot
be established despite exhaustive efforts.”
He said at a news conference that investigators found “no
evidence of criminal activity or arson” but the fire’s precise
cause could not be determined even though they left “no stone
unturned in the quest for answers.”
“In short, this cause determination reflects the fact that the
evidence does not point definitively in one direction or another
as to what exactly ignited the fire,” Jones said, adding that
there was "simply not enough scientific data to identify a
single ignition source.”
He said electrical items in the home were identified as
“potential ignition sources” but investigators could not prove
definitively that any of those started the fire.
Jones said the investigation involving his office, the South
Bend Fire Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
Firearms and Explosives found that the fire began shortly after
6 p.m. on Jan. 21 in the home's first-floor family room/dining
room when the six children and their father were upstairs on the
second floor.
Although smoke detectors were found in the home, he said it
could not be determined if any of those alarms sounded during
the fire. Jones said no witnesses heard a smoke alarm sounding
and neither did the children's father, who was the fire's sole
survivor.
The Smith siblings — 11-year-old Angel, 10-year-old Demetris,
9-year-old Davida, 5-year-old Deontay, 4-year-old D’Angelo and
17-month-old Faith — died after a fire engulfed the home in the
city of over 100,000 just south of the Michigan state line, with
Angel succumbing in a hospital days after the blaze.
Their father escaped by jumping out of a second-floor window
before he tried to enter the home's first floor to save his
children, Jones said. The injured father told firefighters he
was forced back by heavy smoke and wind-driven flames.
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