Fire scene becomes a crime scene on Pomona Ave. in Providence. Photo by Steve Klamkin WPRO News

By Steve Klamkin and Carolyn Cronin, WPRO News

A body was found in the fire damaged ruins of a 2 1/2 story home in the Mount Pleasant section of Providence on Tuesday afternoon. Police are now calling the cause of the fire suspicious and are treating the death as a homicide.

A medical examiner performed an autopsy on the body Wednesday which was not conclusive on the cause of death; there has not been a formal, positive identification of the victim either. 

"We're waiting to find out what the cause of death was," said Providence Police Commander Thomas Oates. "Whenever we have a case where the cause and circumstances are suspicious, we treat it as a homicide so that we don't lose any physical evidence that we may need."

Firefighters were called to the home at 76 – 78 Pomona Avenue shortly after 3:00 p.m. Tuesday and Acting Providence Fire Chief Michael Dillon said the blaze quickly escalated to a second alarm.

"The firefighters did an excellent job in knocking the fire down, and gaining entry into the building. Unfortunately, we found a deceased subject on the third floor," Dillon said at the scene.

"We had a report that there was one person that lived there, but we were told upon our arrival that that person was not on the scene.  So, the investigation goes on."

Dillon said there was intense fire and smoke on all three floor of the house when firefighters arrived.

"At one point, the chief in charge of the building pulled companies off of the roof and the third floor because of the rapidly escalating fire conditions."

He said no firefighters were injured battling the blaze, which was extinguished within about an hour.  Dillon said the Rhode Island state Medical Examiner, State Fire Marshal, Providence Fire Department Arson Squad and police detectives would be investigating the scene to try to determine the cause of the blaze.