INFORMATION RELEASE

***** Update ? 09/18/2017 2:30pm *****

Next of kin has been notified that 34 year old ?Wilfrido? Luis Rom?n Olivarr?a Mora and 21 year old Adrian de Jesus Olivarr?a Mora died in the house fire. The men were brothers and both were from Mexico.

***** Update ? 09/17/2017 12:07pm *****

Capital City Fire Rescue fought the fire at 526 Seward Street for over 4 hours. At about 8:32am the fire was extinguished.

When the first two JPD officers arrived on scene, flames could be seen coming from the backside of the house. A woman was clinging to a second-story roof. Two residents (one man and one woman) had escaped through a window and were outside at ground level. The male resident was provided with first aid for lacerations on his arms by a JPD officer and bystanders. It was determined that there had been a total of seven people inside the residence and two people were still inside. Heavy black smoke prevented officers from entering the residence.

CCF/R located two unresponsive men in the residence. Those men were transported by ambulance to Bartlett Regional Hospital (BRH) where they were both pronounced deceased.

One of the surviving occupants was later transported by ambulance to BRH for non-life threatening injuries. Two of the surviving occupants were transported to BRH by JPD officers. Two occupants were able to get out of the residence without injury.

Four firefighters were transported to BRH due to smoke inhalation and exhaustion. At the time of this press release, three of the firefighters have been medically cleared and the fourth is still at BRH.

The initial investigation indicates that the two deceased men were foreign nationals. The men have both been identified by one of the surviving women and next of kin notifications are pending contact with relatives outside of the United States.

The American Red Cross responded to assist with displaced residents. CCF/R is working to identify the cause of the fire. JPD and CCF/R investigators are working closely together on the investigation due to the fatalities. The investigation is ongoing.

***** Original Release *****

On September 17, 2017 at about 04:14am a 9-1-1 call was received from a man who said he was inside his home in downtown Juneau and it was on fire. Police and Fire personnel were dispatched to the area and it was determined that a multi-level residence on Seward Street was on fire. Upon responder arrival, multiple people were still inside.

At the time of this press release, Capital City Fire/Rescue responders are still actively fighting the fire and JPD is assisting with traffic and the investigation. The public is encouraged to stay out of the immediate area.