Vigil for Victims of Putnam Fire

On Tuesday night friends said goodbye to Ava and Alexis Auger at a candlelight vigil. 

The young sisters were killed a week ago in a Putnam house fire. 

Investigators said the damage was so bad they might never know the cause. 

The girls’ loved ones struggle to find closure and hoped the vigil would help them heal.

 
Dozens prayed for peace at Rotary park and remembered 9 month old Ava and her 3 year old Alexis.
 
 “She was everything to me,” said Ava’s father,  Michael Bandlow.  “Her smile...her little beautiful smile."
 
 That was something everyone at the vigil struggled with.
 
“It’s like a part of me leaving...that’s what it is, part of me leaving,” said Lee Auger, their great uncle.  “I’m going to miss these girls...I raised them."
 
 He could not imagine what the sisters went through when the fire raged through their bedroom last week.
 
“You don’t know this is going to kill me for the rest of my life,” Auger added.
 
The mother of the girls was going through a lot as well.  Lauren Auger managed to escape from the burning home.  She is pregnant and due in a few weeks.
 
“She’s doing alright. It’s day by day,” said friend Shanon Ciukaj. 
 
Friends tried to find strength in each other and give her support.  
 
“We're trying to do everything we can to help,” Ciukaj explained. 
 
 The hardest part for the victim’s parents was knowing they would never get to see their children grow up.
 
“Its been tough...very very tough,” Michael Bandlow said.
 
Investigators ruled the fire was accidental. They said they wanted to know if the building was up to code and that was something they were looking into.
 
 
 
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