10 dead in Kentucky house fire

With only charred remnants of a house to go through, investigators were expected to return to a home in Bardstown on Wednesday, looking for clues as to what started Kentucky's deadliest house fire in decades.

Investigators were not sure what set off the blaze, which broke out shortly before 4 a.m. Tuesday, killing 10 people, six of them children.

"It's just trying to put the puzzle pieces together," Bardstown Fire Chief Anthony Mattingly said.

As fire investigators sorted through that puzzle, they spent much of Tuesday afternoon shoveling out burnt remnants of walls, ceiling, furniture and clothing from the house, which the fire stripped down to the studs.

The blaze in the heart of bourbon country was Kentucky's deadliest building fire since the Beverly Hills Supper Club blaze in northern Kentucky in 1977 killed 165 people, said Rob Goodwin, senior deputy state fire marshal.

Before Tuesday's fire, Kentucky already had 12 fire deaths so far this year, according to the state fire marshal's office.

Investigators must now identify the bodies, which could take several days, said state medical examiner Dr. Tracy Corey. Authorities did not identify the victims, but Janet Tonge said her sister, Sherry Maddox, was among the dead, as was Maddox's boyfriend, Johnny Litsey, two of Maddox's daughters and six of her grandchildren.

Mattingly said one survivor, identified by a neighbor as Darrell Maddox, was listed in stable condition at University of Louisville Hospital.

Another family member had gone out earlier and might have returned to find the home in flames, officials said.

Goodwin said investigators will sort through the rubble of the collapsed roof so the floor can be examined.

"It's like an archaeological dig," Goodwin said. "We've got to dig through what has fallen and get to what was originally there."

Arson investigators reached some early conclusions, Goodwin said. Part of the house was a garage that was closed in and made into living space. The fire did not start in that area, on the right side of the building, Goodwin said.

Also, there were several smokers living in the house, based on statements from neighbors and ashtrays and cigarette lighters found inside, Mattingly said. But, there's no evidence that smoking led to or contributed to the fire, he said.

Neighbor Bennie Stone said he believed some of the people were staying there with relatives because their own furnace went out. The temperature fell to 11 degrees overnight, the National Weather Service said.

Neighbors said they heard panicked screams from the house.

Lana Meier said a woman who fled the fire banged on her front door. "She was just hysterical. She said, 'I can't get in the house. It's on fire and my baby's inside,'" Meier said.

Stone, 61, said he went to the rear of the house and saw a woman trying to re-enter the building, but he said he pulled her back outside and away from the house.

Stone said that he broke windows to try to get to the children inside, but that he was overcome by smoke and flames.

"I heard some of the kids hollering. There was just flames everywhere. There was no way, no way, I just couldn't do it," Stone said.