As authorities continue to investigate the weekend's deadly house fire in Worcester, Massachusetts, they have released the names of the four people whose bodies were found in the building.
All four were men, and three lived in the building on Gage Street that went up in flames early Saturday morning. The Worcester Police Department named the victims as:
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Joseph Garchali, 47
Christopher Lozeau, 53
Marcel Fontaine, 29
Vincent Page, 41 (who lived on Sunderland Road in Worcester)
Garchali and Fontaine lived in the same apartment on the third floor, police said.
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Several people were hurt and dozens of others were left homeless by the fire, which was still under investigation Wednesday. Authorities still haven't said what they suspect caused the blaze.
Authorities didn't expect to find any more bodies, City Manager Ed Augustus said Tuesday.
The structural integrity of the multi-family home in the Bingham Square Apartments hampered investigation efforts through at least Tuesday. Investigators were initially only able to search some parts of it due to the collapse of the roof structure and severe fire damage, acting Fire Chief Martin Dyer has said.
Snakes were discovered in the building during the recovery operation and removed by animal control officers. Authorities haven't said why they think snakes were in the building.
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It took over two hours for nearly 70 firefighters to get the fire under control, and only after it completely destroyed the three-story, six-family building where it started, Worcester fire officials said over the weekend. The fire also damaged two neighboring buildings on Eastern Avenue and Gage Street, officials said.
No firefighters were injured, authorities said. The Red Cross was helping families displaced by the blaze.
"I send my deepest sympathies to the families of the victims," Mayor Joseph Petty said in a statement Saturday. "Tragedies such as this affect so many lives and our city will no doubt come together to support those who are suffering from such an unimaginable loss."
Amanda Langevin lives just a few doors down and says she knows one man who lived in the building but was able to get out in time after someone knocked on his door.
"Him and his better half, they got out and got they got their dogs out," she said. "Unfortunately, I think they had three cats in there and they weren't able to save them."
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