30-year-old man dies in house fire
Chris Strunk nknews@thekansan.com
Newton Kansan
In a prayer and candle-light service
Sunday, friends and family mourned the death of 30-year-old Irwin E.
Lemus in front of the Newton house where he died.
Lemus, a 1988 Newton High School
graduate, was killed in a house fire late Friday or early Christmas
Day after he apparently was overcome by smoke at 120 W. Second in
Newton.
Newton fire investigators are awaiting
an autopsy to determine the exact cause of Lemus' death.
Investigators don't know how the fire
started. But Randall McBee, Newton fire marshal, said the blaze
started in the living room.
"As far as the cause, we've got
interviews we need to finish up to determine that," McBee said.
"There weren't many flames, just a lot of smoke and heat."
McBee said 9-1-1 dispatchers received
the call just before midnight Friday.
A Newton police officer was the first
on the scene of the house fire.
McBee said it didn't take fire
department personnel long to extinguish the flames.
"There was a little bit of flame
damage in the living room," McBee said. "Two rooms in the
house sustained smoke and fire damage."
He said Lemus apparently was a friend
of the man who rented the small house.
The 9-1-1 call was placed by a
neighbor.
"Right now, we're looking at this
as an accidental death," McBee said. "There was nothing
suspicious, and we want that confirmed by an autopsy."
1969 - 1999 (30 years)