RED LAKE—Officers with the Red Lake Detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) are investigating the cause of a fatal house fire last week that resulted in the death of a local female.

Called to a residence on Forestry Road during the early morning hours of January 25, 2012, Red Lake Fire Department representatives and OPP officers arrived on scene to find one home partially engulfed in flames. Despite efforts to suppress the fire, which included trucking water in from the Red Lake Water Treatment Plant on Forestry Road and pumping water from the Red Lake watershed, the house could not be saved and was subsequently destroyed by the substantial blaze.

Following an investigation by the OPP Northwest Crime Unit, OPP Forensic Identification Unit and Ontario Fire Marshalls Office, it was determined that a 49 year old female, Virginia Keesic, of Red Lake had succumbed in the fire and while no foul play is suspected, according to the OPP the cause of the fire is still under investigation.