Re: Be careful with space heaters
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mister loving
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Date: January 11, 2014 12:14PM
Space heaters kill AGAIN!!
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Propane space heater may have caused blaze that killed 3 children
January 09, 2014|By Adam Sege, Peter Nickeas and Andy Grimm | Tribune reporters
Fire investigators at the scene of the fire in the 600 block of Sibley Street in Hammond, Ind. on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014.
Fire investigators at the scene of the fire in the 600 block of Sibley Street in Hammond, Ind. on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
By the time firefighters arrived, a severely burned Andre Young lay in a snowbank, having made at least one dash into his frame house in Hammond to save two of his five children. His wife stood in shock on the sidewalk, a neighbor said. Inside, three of the couple's children were dead.
Neighbor Jasmin Rice said she saw Young, 27, come running from the back door of the house Wednesday night, his back covered in flames as he collapsed onto the snow and rolled to douse his burning body.
“I heard him yelling, ‘Everybody get out! Get out! My babies! My babies,'” Rice said Thursday outside the charred two-flat rental house.
Firefighters found the body of 7-month-old Jayden 5 feet from the front door. Nearby lay the bodies of his sister, Alexia, 3, and brother, Dasani, 4, holding on to each other. “That broke my heart,” said Hammond Chief Fire Inspector Michael Opinker.
Young remained hospitalized in critical condition Thursday night while his two surviving children, ages 2 and 6, were expected to recover, authorities said. The fire may have been caused by a space heater connected to a propane tank, authorities said.
Living conditions in the rental property had been dire for months, Rice said. Hammond city records show the electricity was shut off in March, and gas service a month later. Water service was stopped in October, officials said.
Records indicate the building owner, Real Estate Equity Solutions of Indiana LLC had not allowed in inspectors and ignored citations and penalties — including a $2,600 fine in August. The city had pursued the landlord in court since May, and the firm is due in Hammond City Court on Jan. 16, records show.
“We were a week away from getting an order from the court so we could go in,” City Attorney Kristina Kantar said. “Obviously, if our inspectors found people living there without water or power or heat, we would not let them stay there.”
Christian Bartholomew, attorney for Real Estate Equity Solutions, said Thursday that he did not know whether utility services were connected at the house. City records show the property had changed owners in 2012.
“My client was attempting to coordinate an inspection with the city. I know there had been difficulty contacting the tenant living there,” Bartholomew said. “We are still looking at the situation, and we are taking it very seriously.”
Firefighters found at least three space heaters in the house, including a portable propane-powered model. Rice and her boyfriend lived in the unit upstairs and had let the Youngs run an extension cord from their apartment to provide electricity.
“I remember once they had had a propane tank, and it had, like, an open flame,” Rice said. “I just thought, they've got all these little kids running around and that could get knocked over so easy.”
Officials from Northern Indiana Public Service Co., the gas and electric utility serving Hammond, told the city Andre Young had twice taken electric meters from other houses and used them to reconnect power to the apartment.
A close friend said Young and members of his family had recently split up to stay with relatives in two homes in the Chicago area because the Indiana apartment was too cold.
“It was killing him,” said Andre Rice, who lives on the block in south suburban Dolton where Young grew up. “He wanted his family to be together.”
The family headed back to Hammond and used a space heater hooked up to propane gas because of the extreme cold, said Andre Young's grandmother.
Firefighters got the call at 10:24 p.m. Wednesday and rushed to the home in the 600 block of Sibley Street, but the front and side doors were blocked. They went to the back, where a blast of heat pushed them away, Opinker said.
When investigators made their way inside, they found a bed, rocker and piles of clothes, items that could easily catch fire if someone knocked the heater over.
“There was so much fuel for the fire to do what it did,” Opinker said.
“These kids had no chance.”
Jasmin Rice said she and her boyfriend saw smoke seeping through the walls of their apartment above the Youngs' and rushed out of the house. From the stairs, she saw Andre Young run out the back door of the house, his back covered in flames.
Rice's boyfriend, Cornelius Robinson, said he tried to kick in the front door and could hear children crying inside.
Fire Department supervisors will check in with the firefighters who responded and counseling will be made available, officials said.
A next-door neighbor on the Hammond block, Nicki Flick, 70, said she would often watch from her window as the children played with toy trains and trucks — always with at least one of their parents — outside their home.
Sometimes an older son would push a younger sibling in a stroller. Other times the father would teach his kids to somersault.