A joint investigation by Chatham County and state fire authorities determined a house fire that killed two people on Apr. 11 was accidental.
A release from the Chatham County Sheriff’s Office on Thursday shed more light on the incident and identified the victims as 52-year-old Ethan Douglas Long — who was the resident of the Manns Chapel Road home — and 56-year-old Kristen Lea Hancock of Burlington. The fire was reported around 3:30 a.m. last Saturday by someone who passed the residence and saw smoke, with fire crews arriving to the scene only a few minutes later. The sheriff’s office said upon arrival, firefighters encountered “heavy fire conditions, with flames spreading rapidly throughout the structure.”
Search and rescue operations in the home led to crews finding Long and Hancock, with life-saving measures performed on one of the two victims before both were pronounced dead at the scene…