A search warrant has revealed new details about the house fire that killed NHL reporter Jessi Pierce and her three young children.
In the warrant, which was made public on Wednesday, March 25, first responders said the fire was so intense that they were prevented from immediately entering the home when they arrived on scene.
Officers “could see flames shooting up dozens of feet in the air” and found the home “fully engulfed … with flames erupting from the center of the dwelling.”
Pierce, 37, and her three children — sons Hudson, 8, and Cayden, 6, and daughter Avery, 4 — were all killed when their single-family home caught on fire on March 21. The family’s dog also died.
Firefighters were met with “intense flames as they tried to breach the front door to begin firefighting and rescue attempts, which prevented their initial entry into the dwelling.”
Once the fire was contained, Pierce and her three children were found “in the main living area at the front of the address near the entryway.”
In the warrant, investigators have listed a variety of items they want to look for in the home to determine a cause of the fire, including: flammables, candles, electrical wiring, battery-operated devices, heating devices, household appliances, any altered natural gas piping and vehicles on the property at the time.
The White Bear Lake, Minnesota, police department revealed the fire was not caused by arson in a March 23 statement.
Autopsy results for all four victims are still pending the findings of toxicology results, the Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s Office told The Minnesota Star Tribune.
Pierce’s husband, Mike Hinrichs, was out of town on business at the time of the fire.
A GoFundMe has been established to help Hinrichs “to cover funeral expenses and to provide financial support,” which has raised more than $230,000 at the time of this story’s publication.
Pierce was a beloved member of the NHL community, covering the Minnesota Wild and cohosting the “Bardown Beauties” podcast with Wild in-arena host, Kristen Krull.
“Family isn’t always blood, but the people you choose and that couldn’t have been more true,” Krull wrote via Instagram last week. “Jessi was like another big sister to me. She had a confidence and a way of being able to talk to anyone that I envied. She had an unmatched work ethic and a huge heart. Any time I needed help, needed to rant, or needed someone she was there without hesitation. Most importantly, she was the best mom and loved her kids and family fiercely.”
