Mobile home fire that killed Allegan County, Michigan couple ruled
accidental. Electrical Fire started in a
ceiling above the bathroom.
SALEM TOWNSHIP, MI -- Investigators have determined that a blaze that killed an Allegan County couple was accidental.
Brenda Lee Metcalf, 55, and John Betser, 54, died when their Salem Township mobile home at 4396 Coyote Lane caught fire about 7:30 a.m. Friday, Dec. 26. The single-wide trailer was engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived.
Investigators returned to the scene on Monday and determined the electrical fire started in the ceiling above a bathroom.
The home had smoke detectors, but the batteries had been removed, a Salem Township fire official said.
Betser and Metcalf, who had been together for more than 20 years, were found inside the home and were taken to Metro Health Hospital in Wyoming, where they both died.
Metcalf had just returned home from an area hospital on Christmas, after a hip surgery earlier in the week.
