Two people are dead after a house fire at a group home on Detroit’s east side.
Fire investigators tell us there were no working smoke detectors, as required by law.
Firefighters were called to the home in the 600 block of Lakewood, just south of Jefferson Ave., around 11:40 p.m. Tuesday.
They tell us the home was a group home for adults with special needs.
Deputy Fire Commissioner David Fornell says seven people were living there, but only five made it out.
"They found two victims. Both were on the second floor, one was in the hallway, one was in the back bedroom."
Police have not released the names of the two people who died in this house fire.
Fornell says a 59-year-old woman and 60-year-old man were found dead upstairs apparently trapped by heavy flames downstairs.
"They know it started in the front, in the living room area, that's where most of the fire was."
Arson investigators were on scene with a K-9, they say this is a suspicious fire. Neighbors say this home was set on fire just last year.
"That's not the first time. Because last year there was a Molotov cocktail thrown at the porch,” said Leonard Sims. “They threw it at the window but it didn't go in."
No neighbors know the people who lived here very well.
Investigators say they are now working to find that property owner.
