Saturday's fire that destroyed a Grand Forks duplex appears to have been started by hot methamphetamine pipes smoked by a mother of three and two acquaintances, according to a report from the Grand Forks Narcotics Task Force.
Roxanne Halvorson, the mother of the three young children, makes her first appearance in court this afternoon on charges of possessing drug paraphernalia and being an accomplice to manufacturing meth.
Halvorson's two acquaintances, Candy Reed, 33, and Derik Ostlund, 20, came over to her downstairs apartment at 909 N. Third St. to smoke meth they had made south of Grand Forks.
After smoking in the southwest bedroom, Reed and Ostlund set the glass pipes down, one on a table and the other on the bed. A flame was then seen where the pipes had been set, Reed and Ostlund told investigators.
Halvorson, 38, tried to put out the early morning fire while Ostlund and Reed got the children out of the apartment, according to the task forces's report.
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Halvorson, her male partner and the three children were treated and released from Altru Hospital the same day.
Three of the four young adults who lived in the upstairs apartment were at home at the time of the fire. They were able to get out safely.
Reed and Ostlund have both been charged with manufacturing meth and possessing drug paraphernalia.
