A New Year’s Day fire claimed the lives of a Sandgate mother and her 12-day-old son.
State Police say that following completion of autopsies at the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office in Burlington, the two deceased victims in a Chunks Road, Sandgate (Bennington County) residential fire were Nicole Grogan, 22, and her 12-day-old son, Oliver Stratton. A determination of the cause and manner of their deaths remains pending.
The fire was reported at about 11:30 AM. Numerous fire departments from Vermont and New York responded to the scene and eventually were able to bring the fire under control. The two injured victims were transported to hospitals in New York for treatment; they remain hospitalized in New York.
The investigation is continuing into the origin and cause of the fire by the Vermont State Police, the Vermont Department of Public Safety Fire and Explosion Investigation Unit, and the Vermont Division of Fire Safety.