The December 22 fire left the century-old house on North Main too structurally unstable to access. After a long process of reinforcing, and then thawing out the home, investigators have begun the painstaking job of looking for a cause.
Fire inspector John Daniels says the first thing they're doing is clearing debris from the floor. Next comes finding the place where the fire started and then trying to determine a cause.
"You have to remember there was a lot of damage done to this building and with all the damage, a lot of evidence is going to be burnt up. It's going to disappear," said Daniels.
Three children who lived in the home - Michael Hensley (16), Savannah Coon (12), and Alivia Coon (6) were found dead in a room on the second floor.
Their mother, Rhiannon White, was later arrested because tests confirmed the presence of drugs in her system at the time of the fire. She will appear in Minnehaha County County Wednesday morning.
