The family denied the house was dangerously cold, saying they had been burning trash but the fire had burned out overnight, according to Mr. Akimkin.

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Jefferson Parish Councilman Chris Roberts, who represents the area, told WWL-TV that the fire was in very shallow water, as little as a foot deep, and that authorities would not approach the site until the fire had burned itself out.

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If the floor had been soaked with a liquid accelerant and the fire had burned low, as the evidence suggested, Willingham could not have run out of the house the way he had described without badly burning his feet.

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Another fire broke out Monday and burned three structures along a 5-mile stretch of the San Juan River in far northwestern New Mexico.

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