On  Saturday, May 22, 2010 at 11:11 pm Astoria Fire responded to a report of an electrical smell in the vents at the Clatsop County Jail, 636 Duane Street. While investigating this, they located a structure fire at 591 Commercial and determined the odor was from a structure fire. The Fire was less than a block away from the initial call. No other parties had reported the fire.

Astoria Fire began fighting the structure fire and called for mutual aid. During the initial efforts to fight the fire a male subject who was unresponsive was found. He was removed from the fire grounds and it was determined that he was deceased. Release of any information about the deceased is pending notification of next of kin.

Fire units from Lewis and Clark, Olney Walluski, Knappa, Warrenton, Seaside, Gearhart and Cannon Beach Fire Departments responded to the mutual aid call. The fire was declared under control by the incident commander at 11:44 pm. The building sustained substantial damage.

The Clatsop County Fire Investigation Team will investigate the nature and cause of the fire. The death will be investigated by the Astoria Police Department aided by the Clatsop County Fire Investigation Team and the Major Crime Team.

The Clatsop County Fire Investigation Team is comprised of police and fire officials from agencies throughout the county. The Clatsop County Major Crime Team works under the supervision of the District Attorney and is comprised of detectives from many police agencies in Clatsop County.

Additional information will be available on Sunday May 22 after 10:00. AM.

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