OXFORD – Neil Gephart knows he’ll have to live with the knowledge that, in all probability, it was one of his cigarettes that caused the Nov. 2 fire at Oxford Pines Trailer Park that killed his 7-year-old son, Shawn Bennett.

But he wants it known that he did not fall asleep while smoking on the couch, as officials have reported.

He said he was sitting on the couch talking to his mother-in-law on the phone, after Shawn’s mother, Cathy Bennett, had gone to bed.

When he finished his conversation about 11:30 p.m., he picked up the ashtray, dumped the butts in the toilet like he always does, and went to bed.

Two hours later, Cathy Bennett awoke with a start to find the living room filled with heavy black smoke. She and Neil narrowly escaped through their bedroom window. Both Shawn and their infant daughter, Andrea, were rescued through their bedroom windows, but only Andrea survived.

“If it was because of me, I have to live with it,” Gephart said Tuesday “I don’t need anybody else blaming me, or saying things that aren’t true.”

State Fire Marshal Rick Shepard agreed Wednesday that earlier reports that Gephart fell asleep on the couch while smoking were incorrect, based on his investigation.

“He was smoking on the sofa but he didn’t fall asleep on it,” Shepard said. “The fire originated on the sofa, there’s no question about that,” he said, based on the burn patterns and the fire damage to the living room at the mobile home at 37 Cheryl Lane.

“With this one, everything appears that it was an accident,” Shepard said. The official cause of the fire, as listed in his report, is “careless or reckless disposal of smoking materials,” he said.

Of 20 fire deaths in 2003 in Maine, five of them were caused by careless disposal of smoking materials, said Lt. Joe Thomas of the State Fire Marshal’s Office.

Gephart, 30, has quit smoking since the fire. He and Cathy are staying with Cathy’s sister in Norway. Their daughter, Andrea, who spent a week in the hospital for treatment of smoke inhalation, has been placed in temporary foster care, they said.

They are asking for the public’s help to pay for the cost of burying their son at Gracelawn Cemetery in Auburn. The funeral has been held, but the burial cannot take place until the cost is paid, confirmed a representative for Dillingham and Son Funeral Home in Auburn.

Donations may be sent to the funeral home at 62 Spring St., Auburn, ME 04210.