Investigators: Deadly fire's cause could take days

PORTLAND, Maine — Federal investigators from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms will join Portland fire investigators and fire marshals Monday to work to find the cause of a weekend fire that killed five people.
Investigators caution it could take several days to determine the cause of a fire that ripped through a two-apartment house on Noyes Street near the University of Southern Maine.
Two bodies were found on the second floor and three on the third floor after the fire broke out Saturday morning. Fire officials say everyone who had been in the house was accounted for. Investigators have not released the names of the people killed.
It has left parents like David Bragdon Sr. assuming the worst.
"Is it true? Is it real?" he said. "It's hard not knowing 100 percent."
Bragdon said his son, 27-year-old David Bragdon Jr., lived in the apartment building. He hasn't heard from him since the fire, and is waiting for official confirmation that he is lost.
"You're not supposed to have him go before you," he said. "He's supposed to take care of you when you get old. I wish I was here for him."
A survivor who was severely burned is Steven Summers, 29, of Rockland, Maine, who was visiting friends at the house Friday night. He is being treated at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and is listed in critical condition.
State public safety spokesman Steve McCausland said most, if not all, the residents of the house were University of Southern Mainestudents, but he said he has no indication that students were killed in the fire.
The fire Saturday morning followed a Halloween party the night before.