3 People, Including Child, Killed In Gloucester County House Fire: Deputies

GLOUCESTER COUNTY, VA – Three people, including one minor, are believed to have been killed in a garage apartment fire in Gloucester County early Sunday morning, county deputies say.

According to the Gloucester County Sheriff's Office, deputies responded to the 4200 block of Hickory Fork Road at about 2:42 a.m. on Sunday to find a detached garage with an apartment on top fully engulfed in flames.

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The sheriff's office says deputies learned that the three people known to live in the apartment hadn't been accounted for, and that oxygen tanks reportedly stored in the garage below the apartment might have exploded during the fire.

When the structure could be entered, investigators from the Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigations found three bodies, believed to be two adults and one juvenile, the office says. WKTR reports that the apartment residents were a woman, her boyfriend and his young daughter.

The cause of the fire and the manner of death of the three individuals remains under investigation. Deputies say their families have been contacted, but their names are being withheld from the public until they are positively identified.