Nearly three months after the incident, the state fire marshal's office has ruled that the blaze that killed a father and two of his children in their town of Waukesha home was entirely accidental.
An investigation by specialists who looked for the origin and cause of the Feb. 19 fire at S15 W22398 Arcadian Avenue revealed that it was the result of "unattended cooking," in which food being prepared on a skillet ignited before it was moved into the kitchen sink.
As the fire quickly spread shortly before 3:13 a.m., Kevin Duffy, 38, grabbed his 9-year-old son Konner, bringing him to a neighbor's house before he ran back into the burning house in an effort to save his other two children, Kevin Jr., 14, and Kylie, 12, according to witnesses and family members.
They never emerged from the raging fire, which could be seen blocks away in the darkness of the night. The fire was jointly investigated by the Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation; the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Office, and the Waukesha County Medical Examiner’s Office.