Cherry Injury Law RSS Feed
Last week, we wrote about the heartbreaking house fire that killed five family members of a well-known advertising executive on Christmas Day. Well, another tragic twist of the story has just been released.
Officials told The Associated Press that the fire, which led to the needless death of three children and their grandparents, had ignited after smoldering embers were taken out of the fireplace to make room for Santa Claus coming down the chimney that night.
Although the investigation is still underway, two officials gave the anonymous tip that the embers had been taken out of the fireplace so that the three girls, a 10-year-old and 7-year-old twins, did not have to worry about Santa being burned.
The two officials said that a male friend who was staying at the house had taken the embers out of the fireplace and placed them in or near an entryway by the trash. The female advertising executive and the male friend were the only ones to survive after the Connecticut Victorian-style home went up in flames.
The woman lost all three of her daughters and her parents, who were visiting for the holiday, in the fire. It was reported that the victims died from smoke inhalation. The grandfather also suffered from blunt force trauma after being struck with an object while trying to rescue one of his granddaughters, according to reports.
Apparently, the home was having renovation work done at the time and earlier this week officials said that they will be investigating to find out the status of the work and whether or not the contractor had the requisite permits.
Officials reportedly also want to know if the house had smoke detectors. As we reported last week, it appears that under Connecticut law, smoke detectors are not required in single-family homes built before 1976. The home involved in the fire was built in 1895, reports said.
Source: Newsday, “Embers moved for Santa before fatal Conn. fire,” Jan. 4, 2012