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The cause of the Christmas Day mobile home fire that killed two people in Schuyler, Neb., remains under investigation.
Firefighters responding to the blaze shortly after 4 a.m. were told that the structure had exploded.
Later interviews, however, indicated that “it did not appear to be an explosion,’’ Todd Parsons, chief of the Schuyler Volunteer Fire Department, said Thursday.
The victims were identified as Mario Encarnacion-Marino, 32, and his mother-in-law, Leopoldina Fuentes-Marino, 59, according to the Colfax County Attorney’s Office.
Encarnacion-Marino is survived by his wife, Natividad, and two children, ages 8 and 10.
A benefit fund has been established at Pinnacle Bank in Schuyler. Collection cans for donations have been placed in Schuyler and Columbus businesses.
Parsons said the intense fire quickly consumed the home in northwest Schuyler as high northerly winds fanned the flames.
The heat cracked at least five windows and melted window blinds on the inside of an adjacent mobile home, he said.
Parsons said the investigation by the State Fire Marshal’s Office was interrupted by a fire Monday that destroyed part of downtown North Bend, a community 15 miles east of Schuyler.
Contact the writer:
444-1127, david.hendee@owh.com
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