Police and firefighters found the bodies of four victims Monday at 2326 S. 10th St. following an early morning fire in an old, wooden two-story duplex.
The bodies of a 2-month-old infant girl, a 4-month old infant boy, a 59-year-old woman, believed to be the grandmother, and a 14-year-old girl were recovered shortly before 2 p.m. Monday, said Jason Ziph, a fire inspector with the St. Joseph Fire Department.
The grandmother and teenager were found upstairs by a north window, said Steve Henrichson, an inspector with the department.
The floor collapsed in the second-floor room where the infants were sleeping and their bodies were recovered on the first floor, Mr. Ziph said. Autopsies will be performed on all four today, he said.
No names have been released.
Since its a fatality fire, it has to be treated as a crime scene, said Sgt. Gary Murphy, a St. Joseph Police Department officer. Mr. Murphy was the first emergency responder on the scene.
The upper portion was totally involved and the visibility downstairs was only about 4 to 6 inches, Mr. Murphy said. A mother and son from the extended family made it outside the rental unit.
The police sergeant tried to enter the building, but intense heat and smoke prevented him.
They came and knocked on my door, screaming about the fire, said a neighbor, who lives just north of the duplex.
The neighbor declined to give his name but said after calling 911 he grabbed a ladder and tried to get it up to the house.
Dispatchers rang the fire alarm at 3:09 a.m. Monday for multiple fire companies.
The heat was already too much, and I couldnt do anything, the neighbor said. The family had just moved in about a couple of weeks ago and I didnt even know their names.
The family members were prevented from re-entering the duplex and taken to Heartland Regional Medical Center for treatment of smoke inhalation.
When the first fire units arrived on scene, the house was fully engulfed in flames and a call was made for additional units. Several ambulances, police and utility workers were called to the scene, too.
Firefighters knew that people were trapped inside but there was nothing they could do.
The heat was too intense and the structure was too dangerous to enter, said Capt. George Albert, the acting battalion commander. Fire units were ordered to conduct a defensive attack from outside the structure, Mr. Albert said,
Fire Chief Mike Dalsing was called to the scene and observed his men working throughout the pre-dawn hours.
Two aerial units, Engines 7 and 12, poured thousands of gallons of water as the circa 1910 duplex was consumed like a box of matchsticks.
The roof collapsed onto the structure, hindering attempts to extinguish the flames, Mr. Albert said.
And in various spots, the second floor collapsed, Mr. Ziph said.
The intense heat melted the vinyl siding and left shards of the limp material hanging on the north side. A fake brick siding under the vinyl was consumed in spots. Flames consumed wood framing underneath the siding and the wood that didnt burn turned to charcoal. Water gushed out of the north rental unit almost as fast as it was poured in, creating a cascading waterfall off the front porch and a quagmire of muck as firefighters dragged their hoses to different vantage points. Two hours after firefighters started fighting the conflagration, the flames were out except for a couple of hot spots.
At 5:37 a.m. Monday, police officers started taping off the scene. It was time to begin the grisly task of searching for bodies. Investigators had just begun their work when the first two bodies were discovered.
A first-floor space heater started the fire underneath the areas where the four victims were found, Mr. Ziph said. The victims might have had a chance to escape if there were smoke detectors in the duplex, but no detectors were found, he said.
In October 2008, the Buchanan County Sheriffs Department did an eviction and notified the city that there were health issues in the south duplex, said Steve Hofferber, the citys director of property maintenance. The deficiencies included no working smoke detectors and owner Ron Gabriel installed working detectors in the south unit, Mr. Hofferber said. There had been no complaints to investigate in the north unit, where the four residents died Monday.
Mr. Gabriel didnt return a call Monday to the News-Press. The Midland Empire Chapter of the American Red Cross is assisting survivors and the family.
