ROCKVILLE—The Rockville house fire that claimed the life of 52-year-old Terry Moore late last month is still unresolved as investigators have not released the cause of the fire nor have they confirmed that the burned remains found on site are those of Ms. Moore.
“Investigators located the body in the wreckage and removed the remains last week,” Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) community services officer Constable Al Boyd told The Expositor. “Because of the condition of the body in the intense fire there could be no visual identification so the remains had to be sent away for forensic identification. DNA was taken from the family to assist with the identification.”
Constable Boyd told The Expositor that the OPP does not suspect any foul play associated with the fire, but a wood stove was identified in the home as a possible ignition source.
“The investigation is still ongoing by the fire marshal to determine the exact cause,” concluded the constable.
Despite repeated attempts, The Expositor was unable to speak to the fire marshal’s office as of press time Monday.
Four of the five family members home at the time of the February 22 fire made it out of the home before it was destroyed, but Ms. Moore and her three dogs did not survive the blaze.
Ms. Moore’s husband Dave, daughter Rebecca and her boyfriend suffered from smoke inhalation, while Rebecca’s son, 18-year-old James, was rushed to Health Sciences North in Sudbury with third degree burns and lung damage due to smoke inhalation.
“James was in a drug induced coma for the pain initially,” explained Leslie Moore of her nephew. “He was brought out of a coma, but when he was told about his grandmother’s death he had to be put back under.”
The Expositor spoke with Rebecca Moore on Monday who reported that James is now back home on Manitoulin and is healing.
“He’s doing much better,” Ms. Moore said of her son. “One side of his burns are healing and he’s up and walking, getting better a little bit at a time.”
In general, Ms. Moore said that her family is “hanging in there.”
“It’s hard because we are still waiting for the DNA results before we can start planning (the funeral),” she added. “We haven’t been told officially what the cause of the fire was, but we believe it was the wood stove because that is where the fire started.”
Terry Moore’s sister Ruth Eadie has been collecting clothing and financial donations for the family since the fire, something Rebecca Moore said she has been very grateful for.
“We have received quite a bit of donations,” said Ms. Moore. “They have really been helping us out a lot and we would like to say thank you to everyone for their support.”
Donations to the Moore family can be made at any Manitoulin branch of the Bank of Montreal, while clothing donations can be dropped of at the residence of Ruth Eadie at 31 Draper Street West, Little Current. Clothing is needed for Brent (Rebecca Moore’s second son who wasn’t present at the time of the fire) and James in size large for t-shirts and 30 x 32 for pants, 32 x 32 and medium sized shirts for Dave and size 16 jeans, large tops and large jogging pants for Rebecca. For more information, please call Ms. Eadie 705-368-0256.
