2 die in Kotzebue residential fire

KOTZEBUE, Alaska (KTUU) - Two people in Kotzebue died in a fire that left one single-family residential unit “a total loss” on Friday night.

According to the City of Kotzebue Fire Department, a member of the public alerted dispatch to the blaze at 9:35 p.m. Friday. The Kotzebue fire and police departments both responded to the emergency.

The unit on Whittier Street suffered “extensive damage and is a total loss,” according to the Alaska State Troopers.

Troopers wrote that authorities located the bodies of two victims at approximately midnight Saturday. Later that day, a deputy fire marshall from Anchorage traveled to Kotzebue to investigate the incident.

“The investigation into the cause and origin of the fire is ongoing,” troopers wrote.

The bodies of the two deceased victims were taken to the State Medical Examiner’s Office in Anchorage for positive identification.

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