Christine and Nicholas Lehmann, mother and son, identified as St. James house fire victims

A day after fire gutted a St. James home, leaving a mother and her grown son dead, displaced residents returned to the scene Monday to retrieve whatever valuables and personal effects they could recover.

Suffolk County police said the bodies of Christine Lehmann, 52, and her son Nicholas, 25, were located inside the two-story home on Fifty Acre Road South.

A third occupant of the home, identified as homeowner Ronald Montagna, 91, was transported to Stony Brook University Hospital for treatment for smoke inhalation and burns, police said.

The fire was reported in 911 calls at about 3:15 p.m. Sunday and St. James Fire Department First Assistant Chief Daniel Keegan told Newsday the mother and son were trapped inside the home due to the heavy fire conditions. The cause of death will be determined by the Suffolk County Medical Examiner.

On Monday, several men could be seen bringing charred items like mattresses and wooden panels out of the house while a red emergency restoration van was seen parked in the driveway.

The house’s broken windows had been boarded up with wood panels — the burnt smell, from the fire the night before, still lingering from the sidewalk.

Stephen McNally, 63, said he had lived there for about a year and was one of three tenants who rented at the home.

He said he did not know Christine Lehmann well, adding that she had only lived there about six months, but described her as kind and hardworking.

"Every day she would leave at 6:30 (a.m.) to go to work," McNally said.

McNally said Lehmann's son Nicholas did not live with her at the house — but said he would visit her every week.

McNally, who said he was not in the house at the time of the fire, returned to the home Monday attempting to collect whatever belongings he could: money, coats and jewelry, including a watch collection. He said he had received temporary housing and vouchers Sunday from the Red Cross.

Walking through the house Monday morning was like walking through "mud," McNally said.

He said his cherry red jewelry box had turned black from the soot of the fire, but was relieved to find it had protected cherished pieces, among them a chain that had been a gift from his daughter and a ring he had purchased to celebrate his first year of sobriety.

But, McNally said he'd found brand new sheets and a new pillow purchased on Black Friday now at the curb, tarnished by fire.

Other items — like his motorcycle — remained in the house. It was not clear if those items are salvageable or not.

"I'm still in shock," McNally said.

Another tenant in the home, Anthony Capasso, 70, told Newsday he also was out when the fire occurred.

He said mostly he watched over Montagna, the elderly homeowner, when he was there.

"Basically, I take care of him," Capasso said of Montagna. "He's been in and out of the hospital. ... If I'm not there, he's on his own."

Elizabeth Skadberg, 84, of St James, and her husband learned of the fire while driving past the house.

Although they didn’t know the victims, they said it’s one thing to read about fatal fires but it hits differently when it’s in your neighborhood.

"Oh it’s terrible," Skadberg said. "I mean, what can you say?"

On Monday, police said the cause of the fire remains under investigation, but that it appears "non-criminal."

Police are asking anyone with information about the fire to contact Homicide Squad detectives at 631-852-6392.