Keeneyville fire victims identified; cause believed to be accidental

Authorities still are investigating the cause of a fire that left two people dead and four injured Monday afternoon in Keeneyville.

Steven Elliott, 32, and Lori Breese, 37, were killed in the fire in the home at 24W630 Lawrence Ave., the DuPage County sheriff's office reported Tuesday morning.

Autopsies will be performed Tuesday, officials said.

Authorities said the two victims lived in the home, but officials are unsure of their relationship.

Injured in the fire were Cesar L. Euan of the same address, Edith L. Hernandez of Bolingbrook, an 11-year-old girl and a 5-year-old boy.

All four were transported to Adventist GlenOaks Hospital in Glendale Heights. Their conditions were not available Tuesday morning.

The cause of the fire is being probed by the sheriff's office and the DuPage County Fire Investigation Task Force.

Bloomingdale Fire Chief David Christensen said early indications are that the blaze, which engulfed the home at 1:45 p.m., was accidental.

He said it's unclear why the six people in the home were unable to escape without injury.

"Hopefully we'll have some answers by the end of today," Christensen said. "Currently, the investigative teams are looking at it as being accidental, but that's all I can say about that right now."

Firefighters responded to a report Monday of people jumping out the windows of the two-story house. When firefighters arrived, Christensen said the house was fully engulfed in flames.

Rescue workers found one person unresponsive outside the home and others at a neighbor's house.

The four injured people were taken to Adventist GlenOaks Hospital in Glendale Heights, said Bloomingdale Fire Protection District Battalion Chief Scott Koehn.

Jessica Sicurella, 21, who lives down the street from the house, first noticed something was going on when her dog started barking.

"My dog was barking like crazy, so I ran upstairs to yell at her," Sicurella said. "I opened up the door and saw one big black stream of smoke going up. At first I thought it was a neighbor's chimney."

Sicurella saw firefighters running by the house screaming "Is anyone in there?" and no one answered.

She said she wasn't concerned at first because she didn't think anyone was in the house until she saw a woman, sitting up, go by on a stretcher.

"I don't think any of our neighbors knew the people who lived there; we thought it was a vacant house, and I've lived here for nine or 10 years now," Sicurella said.

"I don't understand how six people were in the house at 2 in the afternoon and they don't see fire and run out of the house," Sicurella said.

Roselle, Carol Stream, Addison, Glenside, Hanover Park, Bartlett, Itasca, Wood Dale and Glen Ellyn assisted Bloomingdale in fighting the blaze.

• Daily Herald staff writers Lee Filas and Amie Shak contributed to this report.