A wood-burning space heater was determined to be the cause of a house fire that broke out on Monday afternoon on VOA Road in Washington.

Bryan Dixon, fire chief at Clarks Neck Fire and Rescue Department, said there were a few factors involved regarding the extent of the fire, which destroyed the home.

Dixon said the space heater was old and something was thrown into the heater before the fire, thus blowing out the embers that sparked it. The situation worsened as the flames reached an oxygen tank in the home, causing it to explode, he said.

Clarks Neck Fire Department was the first to respond at the scene, but Old Ford Volunteer Fire Department and Washington EMS were also called to help. Firefighters reduced the flames to the “hot spot” of the fire within an hour Monday afternoon, but were not able to put it out completely until about 7 p.m., Dixon said.

He said the Moore family occupied the home, and a group of six to eight people lived there together, although he did not know the exact number.

Quintin Moore spoke to first responders, saying his mother, sisters, niece and nephew were inside the home at the time of the fire, according to Dixon.

Two people — a woman and a teenage girl — were transported to the hospital with burns. As of last night, one of them was being transported to a Chapel Hill hospital, but he said he hasn’t heard any updates about the victims’ conditions.

“That’s the bad part of our job. We very seldom hear anything,” Dixon said.

Beaufort County Fire Marshal Curtis Avery also said he had not heard any updates regarding the conditions of the burn victims.

First responders received the call about a fire at 4:14 p.m. Monday, according to Chief Deputy Charlie Rose.

In an interview yesterday, Rose said the fire was still under investigation at the time, but the rumors of a meth lab explosion are unsubstantiated claims.

As of Tuesday afternoon, he said the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office had still not received any reports of suspicious activity related to the fire.