LANSING, Mich. — The Lansing Fire Department has concluded their investigation into a fatal fire that happened on Sunday.
The Lansing Fire Marshall's Office ruled Monday that an accidental cooking fire took the life of 31-year-old Devon Anderson of Lansing.
Anderson's girlfriend spoke to News 10 on Monday morning about the loss of her boyfriend over the weekend.
Crews arrived just after 11 a.m. to an apartment engulfed in smoke at 942 Vincent Court, just east of Martin Luther King.
The fire department said the fire was nearly out but the residence was filled with smoke when crews arrived because it did not have much oxygen.
Firefighters found Anderson dead in a bedroom upon arrival.
His girlfriend, Tanita Crockett, was distraught when she talked to us. They had been together for the last three years.
Crockett said that Anderson had been cooking and left the stove on.
She was the one who called 911 after stopping by the house around 10 a.m. and seeing smoke in the house, as well as hearing the smoke alarms going off.
She told News 10 that Anderson was a good person that she loved and that he was a father of three.
"Two of the ladies, they were just screaming and they were like, 'Help please. Hurry.' And I get out, and I say, 'You guys ok?' She's like, 'No.' I'm like, 'What's going on?' and she says 'My baby's dead in the inside of the house,'" one neighbor said.
Another neighbor, David Oosieczonek, gave Anderson the nickname, One-Eyed Jack.
"He's been a really well-respected young man, you know? Such a tragedy," he said.
The department is ruling the cause of death to be smoke inhalation. There were working smoke detectors in the apartment.
According to the US Fire Administration, cooking was the leading cause of home fires nationwide from 2007 to 2016. 2016 is the most-recent year for which data is available.
