78-year-old Lincoln man found dead after fire identified
By ALEX VARGAS – Lincoln Journal Star, Neb. (TNS)
A 78-year-old Lincoln man who was found dead in his home early Christmas Eve after a fire in central Lincoln has been identified as James Ihrie.
His death was declared accidental in an autopsy, the Lincoln Police Department said in a news release Thursday.
Officers were called to a home in the 500 block of South 39th Street at about 1:30 a.m. Tuesday for a welfare check after a neighbor noticed water pouring from a sump-pump drain on the front of the house and the windows fogged over.
When Lincoln Fire and Rescue responded, firefighters cleared smoke from the basement and search crews discovered Ihrie dead in a basement room where the fire had started but had smoldered itself out, according to LFR spokesperson MJ Lierman.
LFR declined to say whether Ihrie died from smoke inhalation or burns.
The fire was contained to the basement, Lierman said. Structural damage to the home was estimated at $100,000. There were no operating smoke alarms in the house, according to a news release from LFR.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
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