Bethel House Fire Claims the Life of Male Occupant

Editor’s note: These articles were previously run on Tuesday and Thursday. In case you missed it, here is a recap.

Published Thursday, June 5, 2015

Victim in Bethel House Fire Identified

By Wendy Ann Mitchell

Officials identified the male found deceased in a house fire in Bethel on June 4.

The deceased male was identified as Edward Bruce, 56, the sole occupant of the home on 43 Castle Hill Drive, according to Fire Marshal Thomas Gailford.

After a preliminary investigation, Bruce’s cause of death was determined to be smoke inhalation and thermal burns, fire officials said. His manner of death is pending further studies.

According to fire officials, the cause of the fire was determined to be incendiary in nature, meaning it was a purposefully set fire. Officials are still investigating the motive for setting the fire.

Bethel Police are not looking for anyone in connection with the fire and there is no threat to public safety as a result of this incident, officials said.

Crews from Brookfield, Redding and West Redding assisted the Bethel Fire and Police Departments in responding to the structure fire.

Image via Bethel PD

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UPDATE: Man Dead After Fatal Fire in Bethel; House Had a Fire in April Too

By Barbara Heins

Update 11:15 a.m.

Bethel Police said that emergency responders had first responded to the same house on April 8, NBC Connecticut reports. Fire crews had to remove the man who was living there at the time, police said.

Police are investigating the cause of the fire and whether it was set on purpose.

Original post 7:30 a.m.

One person is dead following an early morning house fire Thursday on Castle Hill Drive in Bethel.

A neighbor alerted firefighters that a fire had engulfed the side of the home, shortly after 1 a.m., according to NBC Connecticut.

It took firefighters about 10 minutes to extinguish the blaze even though they had to use tankers to ferry water to the scene, according to the report.

While searching the heavily damaged home, firefighters discovered a body inside, fire officials told NBC.

The NBC report can be found here.