PORTSMOUTH(AP) -- Portsmouth fire officials say a truck that brought down a power line inadvertently set in motion the events that ultimately saw three people die from carbon monoxide poisoning.

Capt. Paul Hoyle, a spokesman for the fire department, says officials believe that the outage led people in a rental home here to bring a gasoline-powered generator inside the building.

Two men -- 86-year-old William James Lashley and 47-year-old Isaac Lee Bowser -- were pronounced dead on the scene on May 27. A third victim, 43-year-old Brenda Lashley, died days later at a Norfolk hospital.

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