A Cornell University student is dead following a weekend fire at an apartment building on Cook Street in Ithaca.
The fire started just after midnight Friday on the first floor of the eight unit house and quickly spread up through the building.
The body of Brian Lo, 21, was found near a rear exit.
Lo was a senior in the School of Hotel Administration from East Rockaway, N.Y.
Investigators say a total of 13 people lived in the building.
Authorities say the fire was started by food left unattended on a stove and they’re trying to figure out if all of the smoke detectors in the building were working.
They say there may have also been an accelerant in the kitchen that made the fire spread quickly.
“There was so much damage in the kitchen, it’s very hard to determine exactly what the contents was, but there is no doubt that this fire had burned for several minutes before anybody had either alerted the fire department or even realized it,” said Ithaca Deputy Fire Chief C. Thomas Parsons.
An autopsy for Lo is scheduled for Saturday.
