The deaths of two people in a house fire Monday have been ruled accidental, and Hurricane Hugo was cited as a possible cause of the blaze, Concord fire
officials said Thursday.

At a news conference Thursday afternoon, Concord Fire Capt. Greg Faggart
said autopsies showed that the victims, Concord residents William Taylor
Laughlin and Sheila Sehorn Mullis, died of smoke inhalation.

``There was never any indication this was a set fire,`` Faggart said. ``We
called in the SBI (State Bureau of Investigation) because we needed their
resources and their expert fire investigators.``

He said investigation into the fire has been closed.

Mitchell Watson, owner of the house at 236 Central Drive, was asleep at the time, but escaped the flames with an apparently minor eye injury. Laughlin,
30, and Mullis, 32, were his friends and were spending Sunday night with him. Faggart said the fire, which started in the front chimney of the 60-year-
old, 1-1/2-story house, could have resulted from faulty construction or
from wind damage from Hurricane Hugo, but that destruction there was so
complete it was impossible to tell.

Investigators did, however, find wind damage from the hurricane in the
house`s back chimney, Faggart said.

Heat from a fire in the front chimney - which opened to fireplaces in the
living room and game room - apparently ignited the house`s wood framing, which was too close to the chimney, Faggart said.

Wind from the hurricane may have been responsible for shifting the house`s
wooden inner structure too near the chimney, Faggart said. Similar damage was found in the back chimney, he said.

On the evening before the fire, Faggart said, a fire was built in one
fireplace, and to keep it burning, an electric fan was pointed at it, for a
bellows effect. The glass door was closed, but air from the fan blew through
its frame, he said.

After radiant heat from the chimney ignited the wood framing, the flames
spread through the house, he said.

Both bodies were found on the dining room floor, indicating that the two
might have been trying to get out, Faggart said.

Damage was estimated at about $60,000 to the house, which was destroyed,
and $30,000 to its contents.