Eleven Reportedly Dead in Louisiana Townhouse Fire

[LCFD968 10]

MARRERO, La. (AP) -- Eleven members of a family died Thursday in an early morning fire ignited by the candles they lit because their new apartment had no electricity. 

Four members of the family escaped _ some apparently by jumping out a second-story window, officials said. 

Col. Bob Garner of the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office said all the victims were related. They ranged in age from 6 months to 42 years. It was not clear why so many people were in the second floor apartment. Sheriff Harry Lee said they moved in the day before and were using candles for light or heat. 

Lee said the candles set fire to a mattress, and family members tried to haul it outside. 

''The mattress got jammed in the door so the mattress actually blocked the only means of escape,'' Lee said. 

The four survivors were apparently not seriously injured. Garner said they were taken to the sheriff's office for questioning. 

David Jarriet, who said he has lived in the next-door apartment for 25 years, said he heard the people moving in during the night. He said he went outside to get his newspaper. 

''I heard windows popping,'' he said. ''I saw flames. They were rolling.'' 

He said he quickly called 911. 

One of the victims was identified by relatives as Sabrina Wilson, who had rented the apartment. 

''They didn't finish moving until 4 this morning. They had just laid down,'' said Vanessa Johnson, a friend of Wilson's. 

She said Wilson had a broken neck from a car accident, and was a kind woman who took care of other people's children. ''She would take in everyone,'' Johnson said. 

Karen Wilson of Avondale said her husband George, one of Sabrina's brothers, was among the four survivors. She identified the other victims as Sabrina Wilson's sister, another brother and members of their families. 

Neighbors who were awakened by the fire poured into the street and said they heard screams and cries for help but had to stand helplessly by. 

As firefighters sprayed the smoking building, a crowd of about two dozen people watched from the street, many crying although none knew the victims. Temperatures were in the 40s and many were wrapped in blankets. 

Because of the fire, residents were blocked from eight other apartments in the complex. Some went across the street to a row of single-family homes and sat on the porches with friends, watching the firefighters. 

The building was owned by Jefferson Parish sheriff's deputy Ernest Pierre, who cried as he met reporters at the scene. He called it a tragedy and said he did not know why 15 people were in the apartment. He said he rented it to a woman who said she would be living there with her daughter and the daughter's three children. 

There was some confusion about why electric power was off. Pierre said the renter apparently had service turned off so the account could be shifted to her name. 

The apartment was in one of four brick-and-siding buildings which share walls, townhouse-style, in a lower-middle-class neighborhood of Marrero, a suburb across the Mississippi River from New Orleans. 

The burned building was faced with siding. Part of the second-story wall appeared to have been blown out or knocked in, and was covered with soot. 

Mark Goldman of the Jefferson Parish Coroner's Office said the apartment was totally aflame when rescue workers arrived at 5:09 a.m., four minutes after the alarm. It was under control before 7 a.m. 

Goldman said it appeared that some people died of smoke inhalation and some of burns, but autopsies will be needed to tell. 

When rescue crews first arrived, he said, they thought perhaps four or five people had died. ''Then we shot up to 10.'' 

[JBE 328]

15 members of the same family in one apartment?? Cripes...sounds like some of the tinderboxes I got waiting to happen in Little Guyana in Q. But it's like 15 plus in a three family house that's sectioned off into SRO's. Ya feel sympathy for the deceased, but then you scratch your head and wonder WTF were that many people doing in one apartment??

Total bummer....

[doug_e 0]

What a horror scene. My condolences to the families. Also, a prayer for the brothers and sisters in the service that have to deal with the aftermath of this tragedy.

How many times have we heard that same story? I'm bringing that up in the next pub-ed session I'm involved with.