Victims identified as DA says Pittsfield fatal fire was not suspicious

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Three people died in an overnight fire in Pittsfield on Saturday, according to a press release from Berkshire District Attorney Andrea Harrington.

Pittsfield Fire was alerted to the fire at Lake Onota Village in the town at 3:40 a.m. on Saturday. At the scene, emergency personnel located two people who had escaped from the residence and learned that three individuals had died in the fire.

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The two surviving residents were transported to Berkshire Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries. The deceased were transported to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Boston for autopsies; their identities are being withheld until officials can notify next of kin.

The Berkshire District Attorney's office said a 25-year-old man and twin 6-year-old boys perished in the fire, and The Republican newspaper reports authorities on Sunday identified the victims as Austin Grzelak, 25, of 20 Larch St., in Pittsfield, and Kasper and Sylas Stone, 6-year-old twins who lived in the home at 11 Lakewood Circle.

Officials have narrowed the cause of the fire to a candle or smoking material in the master bedroom, according to DA Harrington.

"There is no evidence of criminal activity," the District Attorney said. "This remains under investigation, although at this time we do not consider this to be a suspicious fire."

The investigation is being conducted by Pittsfield Fire, with the assistance of Pittsfield Police, members of the Massachusetts State Police Detectives Unit assigned to the Berkshire DA’s Office, and members of Mass. State Police assigned to the State Fire Marshal’s Office.

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A nearby home was also damaged in the blaze.

Pittsfield is located less than 30 miles north of Sheffield, Mass., where a family of five was killed in a fatal fire on Wednesday, March 13. The blaze that caused those deaths is being investigated as a murder-suicide.

Related: Fire that killed family in Sheffield being investigated as murder-suicide

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