By DAVE COLLINS Associated Press
A Connecticut investigator says he could not determine if a November house fire that killed Tony Hsieh, the retired CEO of online shoe retailer Zappos, was accidental or intentional.
New London Fire Marshal Vernon Skau released a report Tuesday saying there was evidence Hsieh was impaired or intoxicated and may have carelessly discarded smoking materials or misused candles while using a propone heater in a storage shed attached to a riverfront home.
Officials ruled the 46-year-old Hsieh died from complications of smoke inhalation from the Nov. 18 fire. He had recently retired from Zappos after 20 years of leading the company.
Zappos Founder Tony Hsieh Surrounded by Drugs and Nitrous Oxide Cartridges in Fatal Fire
Fire officials couldn’t determine whether “carelessness or even an intentional act” by Hsieh started the blazeSean Burch | January 26, 2021 @ 1:52 PM
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Former Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh locked himself in a shed with nitrous oxide cartridges, liquor bottles, drug paraphernalia, and a propane heater and candles, among other flammables, in the moments leading up to the November fire that killed him, a fire department report said on Tuesday. The report offers the most information to date on the Connecticut blaze that ultimately led to Hsieh’s death a little more than a week later from smoke inhalation.