T-L Photos/JENNIFER COMPSTON-STROUGH An investigator uses a dog to search for evidence in the area of a home outside Belmont, where a double fatality occurred early Tuesday morning.

BELMONT — Two people died in a “suspicious” incident that included a fire early Tuesday, and Belmont County Sheriff David Lucas said investigators are seeking help from the public in the surrounding area.

After declining to provide many details earlier in the day, shortly after 4 p.m. Tuesday Lucas confirmed that the fire had been ruled “suspicious.” He also said investigators are asking any residents or businesses with cameras along U.S. 40 both east and west of Trails End Drive to call the sheriff’s office at 740-695-7933. He said the front office staff will direct calls appropriately.

According to Lucas, the incident initially was reported at about 7 a.m. Tuesday as a structure fire at a home on Trails End Drive, located between Morristown and East Richland off of National Road. Belmont Volunteer Fire Department responded, a department member said, but Belmont County Central Dispatch declined to provide any information about the call for help, including what departments were dispatched to battle the reported blaze.

Lucas said that when deputies arrived, fire department members and a witness informed them there were two individuals inside the home who were deceased.

By about 10 a.m. Tuesday, a Barnesville Fire Department emergency squad remained at the scene, along with eight sheriff’s department cruisers including a K-9 unit vehicle, a county Emergency Management Agency truck, two county coroner’s trucks, an Ohio Department of Transportation truck and an Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation Crime Scene Unit. Lucas said the Ohio State Fire Marshal’s office also had representatives on scene. The property was surrounded with police tape.

“It’s a very tragic morning when we lose lives,” Lucas said at his office early Tuesday afternoon. “That’s why we are all working together to try to determine exactly what happened.”

Lucas declined to release the names of the victims, saying that family members still needed to be notified. He would not provide the gender of the victims or details of any relationship between them, referring to them only as “two individuals.”

As officers worked inside the home one investigator led a dog around the area, apparently seeking signs of evidence.

County Coroner Dr. Amanda Fisher was inside the house where the fire occurred and also spoke with a neighbor in his driveway and entered his home. Upon exiting that house, she confirmed to The Times Leader that there had been a “double fatal” in the home that had been on fire. She declined to say anything more.

Although he would not say whether the fire appeared to be the cause of death of either victim, Lucas did say that the state agencies were called in to “make sure we do everything right from the beginning.” He said those state agencies exist to provide assistance to local authorities “in matters like this.”

Shortly after noon, the Barnesville squad was moved to the rear of the property. A deputy said the bodies were being removed at that time. Lucas said they would be transported to a facility where autopsies would be performed to determine an exact cause of death.

Ryan Allar, chief investigator for the sheriff’s office, was at the scene shortly after noon. Lucas said Allar would head up the investigation and let the sheriff know when more information should be released.

Regarding whether there is any reason for concern in the community, Lucas said his department is “working to get answers.” He cautioned that “social media will go wild” with speculation about the deaths and that area residents should wait on official word from investigators before jumping to conclusions. He said investigators had “nothing concrete” to indicate that people in the surrounding area should be alarmed.

“We are only six hours in,” Lucas said of the investigation. “We need to take our time.”