5 ‘wonderful people’ killed in house fire
Neighbors: Loss was too tragic to put into words
Five people — including two adults and three children — were killed in a house fire early Monday in Akron’s North Hill neighborhood. Four others were hospitalized.
Relatives and neighbors said two Bhutanese families were living in the home at the time. Neighbors described them as friendly, kind people, and said the loss was too tragic to put into words.
“They were wonderful, wonderful people,” neighbor Jean Hudson said.
Akron firefighters responded about 12:50 a.m. Monday to a blaze at a home on Linden Avenue at the intersection of Birchwood Avenue. It is a block away from Harris-jackson elementary school.
Akron Fire Lt. Sierjie Lash said the home was engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived.
Three adults and a child were taken to the hospital with injuries, and a neighbor who tried to help was treated at the scene, Lash said.
Cleveland television station Fox 8 (WJW) reported that emergency crews arrived to find relatives and neighbors trying to get people out of the burning house.
The Summit County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed two adults and three children died. Investigators were still working to confirm their identities.
Chief Investigator Gary Guenther said authorities believe a 60-year-old man, a 48-year-old woman, an 11-yearold boy and two girls, ages 5 and 16, died in the fire.
Lash said this was Akron’s deadliest house fire since May 2017, when a mother, father and five children died in a house fire on Fultz Avenue in what was later ruled an arson. Stanley Ford is currently standing trial in that case and is accused of starting that and another fatal house fire.
Relatives, neighbors trying to figure out what happened in Linden Avenue fire
Dozens of neighbors crowded around the home Monday morning. Among them was Yam Subba, who said his father died in the fire.
He drove from Columbus after hearing the news and said he was still trying to find out what happened.
Subba said his father bought the house about six months ago and had been in Akron for a few years. He said his stepmother and father lived in the home with their three children.
Aaron Suhang, who said his cousins and nephew lived in the home, said other family members were living there while they waited to move into a house in Cuyahoga Falls. He said two other parents and two children lived there.
He said four people from the homeowner’s family, including two adults and two children, and a child from the other family — all related to him — died in the fire.
Suhang also said he was trying to figure out what happened. He said a cousin who was hospitalized because of the fire had been calling to find out where his child was, but they did not have have answers for him.
The whole thing is hard to process, Suhang said.
“We never thought that this would
happen to us,” he said.
Akron Public Schools spokesperson Mark Williamson told Beacon Journal News 5 Cleveland the children killed in the fire were students at Leggett elementary school, Jennings middle school and North High School.
The district released a statement from the superintendent saying grief counselors would be made available.
“Our best efforts now are focused on connecting with our students and staff who will be affected by this,” Superintendent Christine Fowler Mack said.
Lash said the cause of the fire is still being determined. Investigators from Akron and the State Fire Marshal’s office were processing the scene Monday morning.
Nepali-speaking community feeling impact of tragic fire
Mahananda Luitel, president of the Greater Akron Hindu Sewa Samittee, said the loss Monday was tragic and that it has had a big effect on the rest of the Nepali-speaking community.
He said it’s a close and intertwined community, and people are grieving but ready to help.
“The whole community is deeply touched. We are with them,” Luitel said. “The whole community is ready to support them.”
He said he had met one of the victims when they came through his class at the International Institute of Akron. She was born in Bhutan and lived in Nepal as a refugee before coming to America.
Luitel said it’s customary for other families in the community to donate money during the grieving process. He said the organization might also run an online fundraiser if the family approves.
It’s also a time to make sure people are prepared, Luitel said. He posted a video highlighting the importance of smoke detectors and checking them for batteries on Facebook.
He said many of the community members don’t speak English and don’t see local news or other websites, so it’s important to put out educational content in their language.
“This fire incident should not go unnoticed,” Luitel said. “We have to educate our people.”
A woman has since started a Gofundme account for the family. It can be found at bit.ly/3tbz64s.
Neighbor says she called 911 after hearing screams
Hudson said she woke up at 12:35 a.m. when she heard people speaking Nepali. At first, she figured they were having a gathering or celebration.
“Then I heard screams, so I looked outside and I saw the flames,” Hudson said.
She said she called 911 and when firefighters arrived the flames were stretched across the driveway and to her home. Hudson said some people escaped and went through her backyard.
Hudson said another man, whom she identified as an uncle, was covered in soot and trying to save the others in the house.
Despite the language barrier, she said the family members were great neighbors and she “was so grateful when the (they) bought the house.”
She said they invited her over for gatherings and brought over food after parties. The neighbors agreed to split the cost to rebuild a wall between the homes and they worked on it together. Hudson said the family had just built a new retaining wall and planted flowers in front of the home.
When they built the wall, family members who lived nearby came to help. Hudson said many of the people outside the home Monday morning likely were family. She added that they live in a close-knit neighborhood.
Hudson said she is shocked each time she looks at the now-charred home.
“I can’t believe it,” she said.
One neighbor who said she didn’t want to be named said she was heartbroken thinking about the children — who were about the same ages as her grandchildren — who lost their lives.
She wasn’t surprised to see many people gathered outside, saying people in that area try to help each other.
“In this neighborhood, we’re a family,” she said.