Mar 16, 2003 By Jackie Beranek 3 min read

Fayette County detectives and state police are continuing to investigate a fatal fire in Vanderbilt early Friday morning. DL&V firefighters said that when they arrived at Denise Morgan Fuller’s mobile home at 211 Pennsylvania Ave., it was engulfed in flames.

Fayette County Chief Detective Larry Curry said a fire scene dog brought to the mobile home Friday found some spots that might have indicated that an accelerant was used to start the fire. He said that investigators found no gunshot or stab wounds on Fuller when she was examined at the hospital.

Fayette County Coroner Dr. Phillip Reilly said Saturday that an autopsy performed by Allegheny County Coroner Dr. Cyril Wecht showed Fuller, 47, died of asphyxiation (lack of oxygen to the brain) due to carbon monoxide poisoning from inhaling the smoke and fumes. Toxicology tests were negative, said Reilly.

DL&V Volunteer Fire Company Chief Jack Washabaugh said he believes the fire started in the living room.

“We responded within three minutes,” said Washabaugh, “because the mobile home was less than a block from the fire station. By the time we got there, the home was totally engulfed in flames.”

Washabaugh said some of the neighbors thought that Fuller might be trapped in the early morning blaze, so firefighters quickly knocked down the flames, but it was too late.

“We found her, brought her outside and called the county coroner,” said the fire chief. “There was nothing we could do to help her.”

Fuller’s sister-in-law Millie Morgan of Vanderbilt said her family will miss Denise.

“My mother-in-law was on the phone with Denise about 30 minutes before the fire broke out,” said Morgan. “She is really taking this hard, because she and Denise were very close.”

Morgan said Fuller was on disability and was at a point in her life where she rarely left her house.

“She was on a lot of medication for a thyroid problem, and she seldom left the house,” said Morgan. “She couldn’t even care for her animals anymore, so she got rid of them some time ago.”

Morgan said her family doesn’t know how the fire started.

Morgan said that when her mother-in-law, Rosalie Morgan of Vanderbilt, talked to Fuller just before the fire, Fuller said she was having problems with her phone.

“We’re pretty sure that the phone didn’t start the fire,” said Morgan. “The fire could have started with a cigarette on the couch in the living room or someone could have thrown something through her window. We don’t really know what happened. I guess we will have to wait for the state police to tell us.”

Morgan said firefighters found Fuller in the hallway leading to the bedroom, where there was an outside door. “I think she was trying to get to the door,” said Morgan. “But again that’s something that we really don’t know for sure.”

Fuller was the second person in the county to die in a mobile home fire last week.

Donald Skelton, 34, of 692 Breakneck Road, Bullskin Township, died of smoke inhalation early Thursday morning when his mobile home went up in flames.

State police trooper John Marshall said the fire began in the living room. Investigators found nothing suspicious in or around the residence at the time of the fire.

Police found Skelton lying in a hallway in the mobile home just outside his bathroom after they responded to the 2:38 a.m. fire.