Marist College Student Identified as Victim of House Fire

A Marist College who died in a house fire in Poughkeepsire has been identified as 21-year-old Eva Block. Poughkeepsie Chief of police Thomas Mauro confirmed that Block, a student from Woodbridge, died from smoke inhalation.

Block was one of three victims in the fire, which tore through a privately rented home near the Marist College campus early Saturday morning. As well as Block, the other victims are reportedly a female in her early 20s and a male who was not a Marist student. All three victims’ families have been notified. A further four people escaped from the premises without serious harm.

Since the weekend, the Marist College chapel has been open all day for students to light a candle and say a prayer.

Police chief Mauro told reporters that the fire was initially called into 911 by a passer-by at about 1:30 a.m. on Saturday, while four female residents and three male guests were in the property. The group had reportedly gone to bed about an hour before the fire was called in. After interviewing the four survivors – two of whom jumped to safety through a window – Mauro said:

“There was no issue that they were aware of in the house when they went to bed.”

When firefighters arrived on the scene, they were forced back by the heat. Eventually they found one victim on the second floor of the house, one downstairs, and the third under “considerable collapsed debris.” Meanwhile, the four survivors were taken to hospital and treated for minor smoke inhalation.