No criminal charges will be laid in connection with an Oshawa house fire last January that left four people dead.
The Durham Regional Police Service said in a news release Thursday that investigators with the force's central east division criminal investigations bureau worked closely with the coroner's office, Oshawa Fire Services, the Ontario Fire Marshal and the Crown Attorney's Office "to review all evidence in the case."
They looked at whether there was enough evidence to warrant charges such as arson, or negligence causing death or bodily harm.
"After reviewing the information and evidence available and after consultations with the Crown Attorney's Office, there is insufficient evidence in this incident to support the laying of any criminal charges and no reasonable prospects for conviction," the release said.
Emergency crews were called to a two-unit house at 116 Centre Street North on the morning of Jan. 8 for reports of an active fire and people trapped inside.
Fire crews found the home engulfed in flames and heavy smoke. A snowstorm was also moving into the area.
Lindsey Bonchek, 36, and her daughter Madeline, 9, died in the fire that gutted the home. Bonchek's son, Jackson, 4, was pulled from the fire but later died.
Steve Macdonald, 50, managed to escape the fire with his pregnant daughter, but ran back into the building to rescue others, according to his family, and did not come out.
The Ontario Fire Marshal determined that there were no working smoke alarms in the home. Investigator Richard Derstroff said at the time that the fire originated in the kitchen, which was on the main level of the home.
On Monday, the owner of the house, two directors of a corporation and two tenants were charged with provincial offences under the Ontario Fire Code and Fire Protection and Prevention Act, according to Todd Wood, deputy fire chief for Oshawa Fire Services.
The specific charges were not given by the Oshawa Fire Services, nor were the names of the five people charged.
The fire department did say the two tenants who have been charged lived in the lower levels of the property at the time of the fire.
Wood said the cause of the fire could not be determined.
Link to original article in CBC News: No criminal charges in Oshawa house fire that left 4 dead