Cause of death and fire released for Jindras

The early morning house fire west of Montgomery at the home of the beloved Roman and Betty Jindra on July 14 now has new details released on the cause of the fire and manner of death.

The Le Sueur County Sheriff’s Office report indicated that the initial deputy arrived on scene at 1:02 a.m., just six minutes after the 12:54 a.m. 911 call was placed by the couple saying that they were trapped in the house and that the house was on fire.

The deputy noted minimal smoke outside the house and was unable to find an unlocked door to the house to enter. The deputy forced entry into the residence through a breezeway on the east side of the house and went upstairs to where he thought the living quarters were. Upon opening the door the deputy stated that he “felt a wave of heat hit me and a thick wall of smoke came from within the area the door led to.”

The report says that the deputy then exited that area to try entering from an outside patio but he was unaware if the door was rusted or if the paint had been burned by heat so he did not try to make entry through that door. The deputy called out for the Jindras at that door with no response. He returned inside the home through the breezeway door to continue the search for the Jindras, calling out their name to try and locate them but didn’t receive an answer. When he climbed the same stairs and entered the door again, he noted even thicker black smoke again and was unable to search any further.

The report says that the Montgomery Fire Department arrived a short time later and located the couple in the residence, both unresponsive, in the kitchen area atop the stairs where the deputy encountered thick smoke and wasn’t able to search further. Firefighters removed the couple from the home, noting a large amount of soot around their nostrils and mouth, and passed them onto ambulance crews.

Le Sueur County Sheriff Captain Bruce Collins noted in the report that there was an extension cord in Roman Jindra’s bedroom that had “varying degrees of fire damage that resulted in the sheath being melted/burnt off, exposing wires.” Collins also stated that there appeared to be fire and heat damage originating in that room.

Lifesaving efforts were attempted by Le Center Volunteer Ambulance and Montgomery Area EMS but they were unsuccessful in reviving them. The medical crew was directed by the doctor on duty at Mayo Clinic Health Systems in New Prague to cease life-saving measures and they were pronounced deceased at 1:32 a.m., according to the report. The two ambulances transported the couple to Schoenbauer Funeral Home in Le Center, and the Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s Office requested that couple be brought to the examiners office for an autopsy. The deceased couple was transported to their office later that day for examination.

A state fire marshal arrived on scene at about 3:25 a.m. and conducted an investigation, finding that the fire did originate in the northwest corner of Roman Jindra’s bedroom but not from the extension cord Collins found but from a power strip where other appliances were plugged into and which had other property placed on top of it. It was noted that the power strip overheated, melted and started on fire. It had not tripped any of the breakers in the house. Further examination of the power strip confirmed this as the source of the fire.

The final autopsy report from the Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s Officer received by the sheriff’s office stated the cause of death being soot and smoke inhalation, and carbon monoxide poisoning due to the house fire and labeled as an accidental death.

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