The house at 500 Nate Whipple Highway in Cumberland is largely destroyed yesterday morning before a crew could bring the fire under control.

The Providence Journal / Bill Murphy

CUMBERLAND — Robert Joly had just awakened and was sipping a bottle of water when a loud blast shattered the predawn quiet off Nate Whipple Highway yesterday morning.

The 71-year-old former fire chief groggily assumed he had heard an electrical transformer exploding on a utility pole, but then an alarmed neighbor arrived, alerted by the blazing house behind the Joly property.

It was the 3,300-square-foot home of a popular couple: 61-year-old Norman V. Langelier, a North Attleboro businessman, and his 60-year-old wife, Beatrice Langelier.

Firefighters converged on the house at 4:30 a.m. and by early afternoon, authorities had recovered the remains of a man and a woman.

As of late last night, the police had not identified them and the circumstances surrounding the explosion and fire were unclear. There was no indication of forced entry to the house, Cumberland Police Chief John Desmarais said.

He expects the medical examiner’s office to report the cause of the deaths today.

Investigators were gathering dental records late yesterday afternoon to help in the identification, he said. Without naming the Langeliers, Desmarais acknowledged investigators had neither seen nor heard from residents of the house at 500 Nate Whipple Highway.

The police are treating the case as a crime until their investigation proves otherwise, and the cause of the fire is the focus of an investigation by the state fire marshal’s office, Desmarais said.

“We believe the fire started with an explosion and was followed by a second explosion,” he said.

Neighbors, including Joly, saw flames shooting 30 feet into the air. Joly, a former Marine, said he couldn’t get too close because he recognized the rat-tat-tat sound of exploding ammunition.

Langelier, who belongs to a local gun club, kept pistols, rifles and ammunition in the house, Joly said.

“I heard pop, pop, pop like that,” he said. “That’s ammunition popping off.”

FIREFIGHTERS BROUGHT the fire under control in about two hours, and the structure was deemed unsafe for much of the day because of propane tanks and unstable walls, according to Desmarais.

A large portion of Nate Whipple Highway was blocked and the Langeliers’ large front yard was enclosed with yellow crime-scene tape.

A man in a military uniform, whom the police chief identified as the nephew of one of the residents, wore a name tag with the name Langelier. He declined to comment.

Late in the morning, Desmarais, the spokesman for the Cumberland fire companies at the scene, announced that searchers had recovered a body.

Around 1 p.m., he reported the discovery of a second body. He declined to say where investigators had found the bodies, but he said they were inside the house and they were not together.

Asked about a note that was found at the scene, Desmarais says: “That is part of the ongoing investigation.”

Investigators do not believe anyone broke into the home, he said. Each of the residents’ cars were the only vehicles at the house, he said.

One of three dogs who lived in the house died in a kennel and the two others were missing, he said.

THE LANGELIERS’ eight-room house is near Little Pond County Road and Diamond Hill Road. It sits on 7.2 acres.

Norman Langelier purchased it eight years ago for $573,300, according to town records.

He was friendly with his neighbors, plowing their driveways and shoveling some of their walks for free.

Thomas St. Godard, who owns Meadow Brook Farm across the street from the Langeliers’ residence, described them as a “nice older couple that looked young for their age.” They were especially proud of their house, he said. “The house was second to none,” he said.

Beatrice Langelier frequently exercised their three Yorkshire terriers — Molly, Lily and Bentley — in the street. The couple had lived in Florida for a time before coming to Cumberland, said Joly’s wife, Cathy, 70. “They were the best neighbors you could ever have,” she said. “They kept to themselves but they were very helpful.”

Norman’s brother Stephen flew in from New Hampshire yesterday after hearing the news.

Joly said he knew that Langelier had firearms because his neighbor was a member of the Cumberland Beagle Club, just up the road. The club’s president, Antonio Alves, confirmed Langelier’s membership yesterday.

Desmarais also confirmed that Langelier owns a business in North Attleboro.

A business information Web site, Manta.com, lists Norman Langelier as the president of Barber Electric Manufacturing on Chestnut Street, which makes products such as electrical panels.

A woman who answered the phone yesterday afternoon declined to comment.

pmarcelo@projo.com