The Clark County Medical Examiner’s Office identified a 74-year-old Tacoma man as the person who was found dead in a June 8 house fire north of Frenchman’s Bar.
Richard O’Neill Sr., died from inhalation of products of combustion, according to the medical examiner’s office. His death was ruled an accident, a Wednesday news release states.
The Vancouver Fire Department was dispatched at 6:38 a.m. to the 15700 block of Northwest Lower River Road, near the end of the roadway, for reports that a house was fully engulfed in flames.
Two people were taken to hospitals with serious injuries, and one person was unaccounted for, according to a Clark County Sheriff’s Office news release.
The structure was a two-story house that collapsed into the basement, according to the Clark County Fire Marshal’s Office. Three vehicles were also burned on the property.
After firefighters extinguished the blaze and investigators searched the ruins, the person who was unaccounted for — later identified as O’Neill Sr. — was found dead inside, the sheriff’s office said.
Sheriff’s office spokesman Sgt. Chris Skidmore said the people who were injured were still receiving care at area hospitals, as of Wednesday afternoon. Their names have not been released.
The Clark County Fire Marshal’s Office has not released the cause of the fire. Skidmore said investigators do not suspect foul play.
