Five children die in Ohio house fire
Mother in critical condition
YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO •An anguished mother, naked and bleeding, banged on the door of the house across the street and screamed for help in a fruitless plea to save her five children as a late-night fire swallowed their Ohio home, a neighbour said Monday.
Fire officials in Youngstown said the woman jumped from a second-storey window and was the only survivor of the Sunday blaze that killed the children. They ranged in age from one to nine, the youngest being twins.
Neighbour Aaron Baldwin said by the time he awoke from the woman banging on his door, her house was engulfed in flames and there was no way for neighbours to rush inside.
“It was horrible. It was the worst thing you have to see,” said Baldwin, 28, who also has five young children. “I’m seeing myself in her predicament.”
The Mahoning County Coroner’s Office identified the children as nine-year-old Aleysha Rosario, three-yearold Charles Gunn, two-yearold Ly’Asia Gunn, and yearold twins Brianna and Arianna Negron.
Their mother, whom fire investigators didn’t publicly identify, was taken to MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland.
The hospital said she was in critical condition Monday evening.
Edgar Daniel Negron, 17, said the fire occurred while his aunt was spending rare time with all of her children under one roof. She has been studying nursing, and her children sometimes stayed with relatives or their godparents, but they were all together Sunday night, he said.
State and local investigators are trying to determine what caused the blaze. They said nothing so far indicates the fire was suspicious.
It swept through the old, two-storey wood home after neighbours were awakened by a loud boom. Most of the damage was on the first floor, leading investigators to believe the fire started there, said Capt. Kurt Wright of the Youngstown Fire Department.
Firefighters found flames throughout the first floor when they arrived and were able to pull out three of the children, but they died at a hospital, Wright said.
One firefighter was treated at a hospital and released, and another was treated at the scene.
The family had moved into the house earlier this year, according to neighbours and friends.