Fatal House Fire Update – Not All Human Remains Located Yet

(PIKANGIKUM, ON) – On Tuesday, March 29, 2016 at approximately 11:44 pm, officers from the Pikangikum Police Service, the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), and the Pikangikum Fire Department responded to a residential fire located on Dunsford Road on Pikangikum First Nation.

At present, the OPP North West Region Crime Unit, the OPP Criminal Investigation Branch (CIB), Forensic Identification Services Unit (FISU), Critical Incident Stress Response Officers, and Provincial Liaison Team Officers are at the scene.

A Coroner from the Office of the Regional Supervising Coroner, as well as a Forensic Anthropologist from the Ontario Forensic Pathology Service is on scene.

The Forensic Anthropologist, Forensic Identification Services Unit and investigators from the Office of the Fire Marshal will be continuing the physical and forensic examination of the scene. An electrical engineer will be arriving at the scene today to assist with the scene examination.

The investigation entails a very detailed and systematic process of the complex fire scene that will take place over the next several days. The scene examination is expected to be completed by the end of the weekend or early next week.

Once all human remains have been located and removed from the scene, post mortems will take place at the Office of the Chief Coroner and Forensic Pathology Services in Toronto.

The ongoing investigation into the cause of the fire, which remains undetermined, is being conducted under the Coroner’s Act and police are assisting the Coroner with the investigation.

Further information will be provided as it becomes available.

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