After an investigation on Thursday, the cause of a fatal fire at a residence on FM 1849 just outside of Bangs was determined to have been something left on a lit burner of the stove, reported Fire Marshal Buddy Preston.

The fire, which ignited just after 6:00am on October 4th, claimed the life of Robert Knief just an hour after his wife left for work.  Knief’s remains were discovered in the living room Brown County Sheriff’s officials said.

Only a shell of the mobile home remained Thursday morning.  The fire rekindled Tuesday evening and again on Wednesday, which kept the site of the fire too hot to investigate until Thursday according to officials.

Preston along with his new arson investigation canine Nika looked at the scene Thursday to determine the cause of the fire.