The fire that killed three town of Waukesha family members has been ruled accidental

WAUKESHA - Nearly three months after the incident, the state fire marshal's office has ruled that the blaze that killed a father and two of his children in their town of Waukesha home was entirely accidental.

An investigation by specialists who looked for the origin and cause of the Feb. 19 fire at S15 W22398 Arcadian Avenue revealed that it was the result of "unattended cooking," in which food being prepared on a skillet ignited before it was moved into the kitchen sink.

As the fire quickly spread shortly before 3:13 a.m., Kevin Duffy, 38, grabbed his 9-year-old son Konner, bringing him to a neighbor's house before he ran back into the burning house in an effort to save his other two children, Kevin Jr., 14, and Kylie, 12, according to witnesses and family members.

They never emerged from the raging fire, which could be seen blocks away in the darkness of the night.

The fire was jointly investigated by the Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation; the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Office, and the Waukesha County Medical Examiner’s Office.

The investigation, announced by the sheriff's department in a May 10 news release, provided no additional details about the circumstances, such as why anyone was cooking so late and why the investigation took so long to conclude.

Family members said Casey Duffy, the wife and mother of those killed, was not home at the time because she was in the care of her parents, who had been trying to comfort her for her Crohn's disease ailments.

Faced with the loss of most of her family and her surviving son's hospital stay as a result of the fire, Casey faced additional challenges, prompting her cousin, Jillian Newell, to start of GoFundMe account. The effort raised more than $37,000.

Contact Jim Riccioli at (262) 446-6635 or james.riccioli@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @jariccioli.