A fire determined to be “suspicious” by authorities claimed the lives of two school-aged children and an adult in a mobile home Tuesday in Dorr Township.
The fire was reported at Briarwood Street near 138th Avenue and Woodland Drive.
Allegan County Undersheriff Frank Baker at first reported the deaths of two children, but announced a third person, an adult, was found deceased after a search warrant was obtained by police.
Neighbors reported they heard a popping sound before discovering the mobile home was engulfed in flames. They said it was their understanding that a woman and her two children, a boy age 10 or 11, and a 13-year-old girl, had lived in the home.
Relatives and friends said they had been informed about the two children’s deaths and noted they had not been in school Tuesday.
Firefighters were summoned to the scene at about 1 p.m., along with deputies from the Allegan County Sheriff’s Department and troopers from the Wayland post of the Michigan State Police.
Baker, who said the damage to the trailer was extensive, acknowledged the cause of the fire has not been determined as yet. Autopsies will be performed on all three victims to determine their cause of death.
WOOD-TV Channel 8 Tuesday night reported that, “The mother’s boyfriend, who lived at the mobile home intermittently, was being interviewed by investigators Tuesday night as they worked to determine what happened.”
