Caribou Fire Victims Identified

Four people who passed away due a fire at their Caribou home early Thursday morning have been identified.

The State Fire Marshal’s Office says a mother and her three young children died this morning inside the Caribou mobile home.  Among the deceased are 28-year-old Norma Skidgel and her three children --  twin boy and girl – Mason and Madison Delisle, who were two, and three year old Trenton Delisle, who would have turned four next week.   The four victims were found by Caribou firefighters in the back bedroom.

Three other persons also lived there – Amy Bouchard and her two sons.  Bouchard is the sister of Skidgel.  She and one of her sons left the mobile home a short time before the fire to go to a bus stop and the dwelling was ablaze when she returned.  A second son spent the night elsewhere.  Bouchard is being treated at the Caribou hospital for smoke inhalation as she attempted to gain entry into the mobile home.

The fire was reported by a neighbor about 7 a.m.  A team of seven investigators and inspectors from the State Fire Marshal’s Office began work to pinpoint the cause.  That work will include examination of the fire scene and interviews, and no update is expected today.  The four bodies will be transported to the State Medical Examiner’s Office in Augusta for autopsy and examination. That is likely to take place Friday.

Investigators found a smoke detector inside the mobile home, but the battery had been removed.  It is not clear if there were other smoke detectors that were working.