Police identify 2 men found dead after Orono house fire

ORONO, Maine — An early morning fire claimed the lives of two brothers on Sunday.

The state fire marshal’s office said Cris Davis, 49, of Milford and Randy Davis, 47, of Orono died in the blaze at 53 Hillside Road, according to Maine Department of Public Safety Spokesman Stephen McCausland. Randy Davis owned the 1 1/2 story single-family home where the fire took place.

State Fire Marshal Joe Thomas said the fire was reported at 3:19 a.m.

The bodies will be examined by the state medical examiner’s office on Monday, said McCausland.

“Investigators said the two brothers and a friend were out drinking Saturday night and were driven home by taxi,” said McCausland in a statement. “The friend then had the taxi continue to his home in Bangor. There had been concern early on that the friend also might have perished in the fire, since his vehicle was in the Davis’ driveway.”

One of the bodies was found on the second floor and the other was located in the first-floor living room, McCausland said.

The home was destroyed in the blaze, according to the state fire marshal’s office.

McCausland said fire investigators are looking at the wood stove or the chimney as possible causes of the fire.

“Our initial indication is leading us to something around the wood stove,” said Thomas late Sunday morning. “We’ve got to do some digging in there to confirm that. There’s a wood stove in the living room and we’ve got fire all the way up to what would’ve been the stovepipe chase. There’s a question around the thimble there. So we’re checking into that.”

Investigators say that no working smoke detectors were located in the house, according to McCausland.

Thomas said fire crews had the fire knocked down within an hour.

Bangor, Milford, Old Town and Orono fire departments responded to the fire call while the Veazie Fire Department stationed at the Orono Fire Department. Old Town, Orono and Veazie police also assisted.

Jane Howard, who lives a few houses down, was woken up by fire crews.

“I came down to the window and looked and it was a lot of flames and smoke coming out of the house,” said Howard. “Flames were shooting out of the windows and a ton of smoke. The house was melting — the front of it. It was really bad. Really bad.”

Howard said she often talked with Randy Davis when he walked his dog by her house.

“I’ve known them for many years,” she said. “My dog would bark [when Randy walked by] and I would go out and we’d stand and talk for a long time.”

Randy Davis was well known in the community, Howard said, as he was a crossing guard at a local school.

McCausland said this is the second deadly fire in the greater Bangor area in the past two months where smoke detectors were a factor.

“ An Orrington father and his three children died November 9 when fire swept their home,” he said. “Investigators say there were no working smoke detectors at that fire either.”

Thomas said there have been 19 fire fatalities in Maine in 2012.

Watch bangordailynews.com for updates.