Officials: Investigation into fatal fire at Evergreen Home could take weeks or months


It's a multilevel agency effort investigating the cause of the fire, and answers from that day may not come anytime soon.



News 12 Staff

Apr 1, 2021, 9:24 PM

Updated 1,341 days ago

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Officials involved in the investigation into last week's fatal fire at the Evergreen Home for Adults in Spring valley held their first news conference Thursday.
It's been a little over a week after the fire claimed the life of one resident and firefighter Jared Lloyd.

It's a multilevel agency effort investigating the cause of the fire, and answers from that day may not come anytime soon.



"This is a methodical, drawn-out investigation that we anticipate to take at least several weeks if not a month or two," says Chief William McGovern, from the state Office of Fire Prevention and Control.
Pete Walker, chief of detectives at the Rockland County District Attorney's Office, says the status of the current investigation is that interviews are being conducted and documents are being subpoenaed.
News 12 was told the facility's alarms and sprinklers are being looked into as part of the investigation.


As News 12 previously reported, officials said the building's fire alarm was offline. Evergreen confirmed there was a koshering process involving blowtorches in the kitchen that took place a few hours before the fire began.
The elderly resident will not be identified at the request of his family.