Leighton Township Fire Chief Matt Weston Thursday night confirmed that he and his colleagues have heard nothing about the fatal fire they handled last Dec. 5.

Though the incident occurred more than four months ago, there still has been no information provided about the name of the deceased, nor the cause of the fire, which occurred on Division, just north of the Rock ‘N Bowl establishment on the east side of the road.

It was reported on the Leighton Fire Dept. Facebook page that a woman named Samantha Piotrowski Griffin with Hopkins connections, posted to firefighters: “Thank you so much for all of your hard work. This was my ex-husband and the father of my two kids. I hope he has finally found the peace that had been lost for him for so many years.”

Someone replied to Samantha’s post with: “Samantha Piotrowski Griffin we were friends from Otsego. He fixed our vehicles. We were guests in his house, as he was a guest in ours… Even offered grace over Easter dinner! Talked about the drama and losses in his life. Talked so often about his dad and the children. Spoke kindly of you. We stopped by one evening. He was upset that No One had remembered his bday! We said sorry…asked him to check out a car part in the trunk…out popped a big balloon bouquet. He was so surprised! One escaped and got caught in the tree in his front yard for about a year. We brought pizza and cake. Made a bday picnic right in his driveway. He laughed so hard! (We were forgiven).

“We agree with you that maybe he found his peace that passeth all understanding.”

Another posted, “The man who died in this fire was an old friend of ours. I know this must have been a very difficult situation for the firefighters. Thank you for all of your hard work. So thankful that none of the first responders were injured in this incident.”

Checking with the Allegan County Sheriff’s Department, State Police and other area news outlets has yielded no information.

1 Comment

Michele Spicer
April 14, 2022
Lord have mercy.... are you still bothering people about this? Had you sent your FOIA requests in when I suggested it months ago you would have all this information back by now. I know, I know... fixed income… Blah blah blah. Geez Louise, you know how the system works.

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