Articles labeled: fire

Two moms whose house burned down, killing 5 children inside, are being held responsible for the deaths because they left the children alone while they went out drinking at a bar.

After more than an hour of heart-wrenching testimony, Allegheny County Judge David Cashman said that the women’s crime of leaving the children in the care of two 8-year-old boys should not go unpunished.

“You traded the lives of five children for a couple of beers,” Cashman said. “These children were placed in harm’s way because you decided it was time to party. … This deserves punishment.”

[Shakita] Mangham and [Furaha] Love, who pleaded no contest in February to charges of involuntary manslaughter, were taken from the courtroom in handcuffs. Their jail terms will be followed by five years of probation.

An apartment complex fire in Milford Mill, Maryland early Monday morning tragically took the life of a 6-month-old boy, Malik Michael Hasan, who was the only fatality:

Fire Department spokeswoman Elise Armacost said the two-alarm fire was reported at 1:35 a.m. Monday.

Armacost said the fire appeared to begin on the third floor of a three-story garden apartment at the St. Charles at Olde Court apartment complex. The fire started in the apartment in which the infant was later found.

Residents said they awoke to hearing banging on doors and people saying everyone should get outside.

“It spread, like, in no time. In five minutes, it was spreading,” resident Vera Greene said of the fire.

There was no word on where Malik’s parents were at the time, or what circumstances prevented them from getting him out.

Firefighters in Kansas City, Kansas were called Saturday morning to a fire and made a surprising discovery — a 2-year-old girl was alone in the burning house. Fortunately they were able to rescue her. The toddler suffered from smoke inhalation and is in serious condition, but family members say she is recovering. The twist to this story, though, is that it wasn’t an unfortunate coincident that was the result of poor judgment leaving a child by herself — investigators are saying that the fire was intentionally set:

Neighbors said the child lived at the house with her mother. However, the child’s mother did not show up at the house until firefighters were about to leave the scene about an hour after finding the girl.

Police took the 27-year-old woman into custody for investigation of endangering the welfare of a child, Snapp said, although she had not been charged Saturday.

Police believe the mother left the child unattended for 2 1/2 hours.

Fire investigators ruled that the fire was intentionally set, Vitale said.

He said the fire department had closed its investigation, but details regarding how the blaze was ignited were not released Saturday.

Saturday evening, detectives had not said who they believed was responsible.

Derrionna Adams, a 12-year-old girl from East St. Louis, Illinois, rescued her five brothers and sisters from a house fire — by tossing them out a second story window. While a couple of the kids suffered minor injuries from the fall (they must have a really lush lawn!), it certainly beat the fate that awaited them if they had remained inside.

The fire early Saturday in East St. Louis left one of the children, a 9-year-old boy, with burns on his arms. A relative said that child also broke his ankle in the fall.

The other children were not injured. The house was destroyed before firefighters could put out the blaze.

East St. Louis Mayor Alvin Parks Jr. on Saturday called the girl a “true hero demonstrating tremendous courage and wisdom and insight in making sure she got her younger siblings out of that building.”

The city will honor the girl, Parks said.

It’s not the terrorists we have to worry about, it’s little boys playing with matches. First one boy starts a massive California wildfire, now another in Lawrenceburg, Ohio, took out half a block playing with a lighter, paper, and styrofoam, causing a half million dollars in damage.

At least eight people are homeless and one woman suffered a heart attack. She is in the hospital.

At an afternoon news conference, officials said the child did not mean to cause any damage. The boy is charged with a delinquent act of arson and is due in court Tuesday. If convicted he could be sentenced to juvenile detention until age 21.

On November 18, 2007, Om Patel, 4, and his brother Vishv, 7, were doused with gasoline in the Glendale Heights, Illinois home and set on fire. Om died today from his injuries. Now police are indicating that the boys father, Kaushik Patel, will be charged with murder. Patel had not been previously charged, presumably because he has been recovering in the hospital himself with his own serious burns.

Om died early Thursday morning at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, hospital spokesman Perry Drake said.

Vishv, who like his brother was placed in a drug-induced coma, remained in critical but stable condition Thursday at the hospital’s burn unit. The boy has been recovering and was able to walk a few steps last week, said Tammy Basile, a spokeswoman for LifeSource, which organized a blood drive in honor of the boys at their school on Thursday.

Kaushik Patel, 34, also suffered serious burns and is at the same hospital, but an order of protection has barred him from seeing the children.

He is under continuous police watch and will be taken to jail after he is discharged, Darrah said. It was unclear Thursday whether Patel had an attorney.