Firefighter lost three children in day care fire near station

update

Funerals held for 4 children killed in day care fire

A funeral service was held Saturday in Erie for 8-year-old La'Myhia Jones, 6-year-old Luther Jones Jr., 4-year-old Ava Jones and 9-month-old Jaydan Augustyniak. All are siblings. The funeral for 2-year-old Dalvin Pacley will be held Monday.

Three of the victims were the children of a volunteer firefighter, Luther Jones. Their mother, Shevona Overton, is also the mother of Jaydan. An adult and two adolescent boys were able to escape. Fire officials suspect last Sunday's blaze was accidental and possibly electrical.
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Firefighter loses three kids in Pennsylvania day care blaze that kills five

NBC News
By Tim Stelloh
Aug. 11, 2019

A firefighter lost three children in an early morning blaze that tore through a home day care in Pennsylvania, killing five and leaving a woman injured, authorities said.

Joe Crotty, chief of the Lawrence Park Volunteer Fire Department, said firefighter Luther Jones was responding to another fire when the blaze ignited at Harris Family Day Care in Erie, NBC News affiliate WICU reported.

Jones had no idea his children were at the overnight day care center a few blocks away, the station said.

It's "unthinkable," Crotty said. "It's really beyond comprehension."

Earlier, city officials said in a Facebook post said that firefighters responding to a structure fire shortly after 1 a.m. rescued seven people who were trapped inside a home.
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Brother tried to save Disabled Vietnam Veteran trapped in burning home

Brother tried to run into burning home to save disabled Vietnam veteran’s life

Dayton Daily News
By Rick McCrabb, Staff Writer
March 13, 2019

MIDDLETOWN
When Don Howard was told Monday night his brother’s home caught fire, he quickly made the short drive to the home in the 900 block of Sixth Avenue.

He tried to run into the burning building — where flames were shooting 30 feet in the air — but was held back by Middletown police officers. When Howard saw the location and intensity of the flames, he knew his brother, James “Butch” Gann, 71, was trapped in the home because he needed assistance with his walker.

On Tuesday morning, with the smell of smoke still fresh in the air, Howard and Joshua Jones, Gann’s son, stood in the street and greeted numerous well-wishers who drove by the house.

Jones said he knocked down the front door trying to rescue his father, who was watching TV in a back room. But Jones was unable to reach his father. He can’t comprehend his father, an Army veteran who served during Vietnam, dying in a house fire.“I don’t believe he went that way,” Jones said. “It hurts real bad.”He said his father was a volunteer cook at the Louella Thompson “Feed The Hungry” program and coached for about 15 years in the Pee Wee Football program in Middletown. The players called him “Coach Butch,” his son said.
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101st Airborne Veteran Killed in House Fire

Kettering veteran killed in house fire remembered by family

MyDaytona Daily News
November 26, 2017

Family members are sharing stories and memories of a Kettering man killed in a house fire Sunday morning with WHIO’s Sean Cudahy.

James Towe (Contributed photo)

James Towe is remembered as a joking father and good friend who reportedly served in the Army’s 101st Airborne Division.

Towe’s son, James Towe told Cudahy his dad was a comedian who playfully cracked jokes.

"I'm trying to hold my own, I'll catch myself grieving [...] trying to keep myself composed to figure everything out," Towe said.

Towe said he and his brother are the last remaining family members living in the area.

“We’re going to try and talk to the VA [...] I guess he didn’t have any insurance policy so it’s going to be rough trying to come up with the funeral costs,” Towe said.
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Vietnam Veteran Died Saving Family From Fire

"He Died a Hero": Veteran Dead After Saving Family From Fire 
NBC News
By Todd L. Davis
February 18, 2015

A North Texas veteran is dead after running into his burning home multiple times to save his family and pets from a fire Wednesday morning, authorities said.

Witnesses told NBC 5 that the homeowner, 65-year-old Vietnam War veteran and Purple Heart recipient George Steele, went back into the Decatur mobile home several times to rescue his children, extended family and pets.

Steele's wife, Faith, said he ran into the smoke-filled house one last time to try to help his aunt, who, unbeknownst to him, had already escaped through the back window.

"He died a hero," neighbor Monica Schumpert said. "He was a Vietnam Vet. He had a Purple Heart. I guess it was just in his nature to save his family." 
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Vietnam veteran dead days after house fire killed son

Vietnam vet, 64, killed in car crash by veering into oncoming traffic just five days after his son, 29, died in house fire
John Hover veered into oncoming traffic on narrow rural road on Thursday
He was pronounced dead at same hospital where he was treated for smoke inhalation just days earlier after blaze at his family home
Hover and his wife survived the blaze but their son, Devin, was killed
Both will be remembered at the same funeral service on Saturday
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
20 September 2013

A 64-year-old Marine Corps. veteran has died in a car crash - just five days after his 29-year-old son was killed in a fire at the house they shared.

John Hover, who fought in Vietnam, was driving on Route 43 in North Greenbush, New York on Thursday afternoon when his 2002 Ford truck veered into oncoming traffic for an unknown reason, police said.

He smashed into a 2006 Toyota driven by 66-year-old Jean Eldred, from West Sand Lake, and both became trapped in the wreckage and had to be cut out by firefighters.

They were rushed to Albany Medical Center Hospital and Hover was initially listed in critical condition.

Police announced his death on Friday morning.
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Veteran survived Marine helicopter crash, died in house fire

Veteran who survived copter crash dies in St. Paul blaze
Star Tribune
Article by: PAUL WALSH
Updated: July 9, 2013

A St. Paul man who survived a harrowing collision of military helicopters decades ago that took the lives of 22 of his comrades was unable to escape a firetrap of his own making Tuesday.

The body of 68-year-old Charles E. Nightingale was found not far from a door to his house, the Vietnam-era veteran apparently having been overcome by smoke before he could make his way out of the structure. Fire officials said the home was so choked with possessions that they had to cut a new entry to find a way in.

St. Paul Fire Marshal Steve Zaccard described the house as “filled floor to ceiling” with Nightingale’s belongings. “The clutter was not only a combustible for ignition, but it spread the fire faster,” Zaccard said. “[The man] got as far as the door and then collapsed.”

Neighbors described Nightingale as someone who kept mostly to himself. He had an elaborate rock garden that he often worked on at night, neighbor Kenneth Rein said.

No one knew the extent of the situation inside his house or the trauma he experienced as a young Marine that may have played into his hoarding later in life.

In June 1967, Nightingale was one of five enlisted men critically hurt in the collision of helicopters that killed 22 during a training exercise near the Marine Corps’ Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.

He suffered “at least 20 different bones broken. Femurs came right out through his legs, and so did his arms. He spent 13 months in traction, both legs with pins and casts on his arms.”

Trained as a first responder, Nightingale had been due to be shipped off to Vietnam with the Marines to serve on the front lines, providing everything “from aspirin to suturing” to the troops on the ground, LaFountaine said.
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Vietnam veteran died saving others from house fire

Veteran died trying to save others from fire, son says
WHTM News
By Karissa Shatzer
Posted: Jul 04, 2013

LANCASTER, Pa. (WHTM)
A Lancaster man who died in an house fire that killed three others was a war veteran and a hero who made the ultimate sacrifice, according to his son.

"He was a Vietnam vet. He served in '68-'69. He was 101st Airborne," Jimmie Brock said of his father, 64-year-old Jimmie Moore. "I miss him."

Not only did Moore put his life on the line for his country, he died early Thursday after running back into his burning home at 115 E. Clay Street in an attempt to save 13 people who were still inside. Two children between the ages of 2 and 8 are among the victims.

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Fort Campbell Mom gets 25 years for setting fire killing kids

Woman gets 25 years for fatal fire at Campbell
By Bruce Schreiner
The Associated Press Posted : Thursday Dec 13, 2012

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A woman accused of trying to collect on her Army husband’s life insurance policy has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for setting fire to her home and killing two of her children at Fort Campbell.

A sobbing Billi Jo Smallwood maintained her innocence at her sentencing Thursday in federal court in Louisville. Family, friends and jail guards portrayed her as caring and deeply religious.
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Vietnam Veteran sacrificed his life to save neighbor

Vietnam Veteran Killed Trying to Save Neighbor in House Fire
November 30, 2012
by Daniel Hight
WREG Memphis

It’s not always like the movies, sometimes acting heroic will cost you your life.

The Shelby County Fire Department says a man was killed trying to rescue a woman from a burning home Thursday evening.

The courage of 69-year-old Willie Harris cost him his life. It’s the kind of bravery you would expect from a Vietnam veteran who went into a burning home to help save a disabled woman.

“I was like ‘wow’,” said Marcus Webb, a neighbor. “I was astonished to see that.” Harris made it back out but it was enough to kill him. The homeowner managed to climb out of a window as flames gutted the home.
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Sven Erickson, veteran killed in house fire lived alone and died alone

Veteran killed in house fire to receive proper burial
Gaston Gazette
By Diane Turbyfill
Published: Monday, November 26, 2012

Sven Erickson lived alone and died alone. But he won’t be alone when he’s laid to rest.

The 78-year-old Gaston County man perished in a house fire Nov. 12. The Navy veteran kept to himself and had few visitors aside from an occasional neighbor in Pine Grove Trailer Park.

Neighbors attempted to save Erickson when fire alarms rang out in his house. But he was overcome by smoke after a trashcan in his home caught fire.

A proud sailor, Erickson died the day after Veterans Day.

No one has since claimed his body.

The N.C. Medical Examiner’s Office is responsible for finding relatives in such a case.

But Sgt. Steven Dover with Gaston County Police felt an obligation to honor a local veteran.
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Soldier and daughter killed in house fire at Fort Lee

Soldier, daughter who died in house fire had NC ties
NBC News
By: DANE HUFFMAN
NBC17.com
Published: November 20, 2012

FORT LEE, Va.
The two people found dead after a fire in a housing unit on post early Monday morning at Fort Lee have been identified as Sgt. Corey Flowers, 24, and his 2-year-old daughter, Kourtney Flowers.

Sgt. Flowers, a native of Raeford, N.C., was a mortuary affairs specialist with the 54th Quartermaster Company. He joined the Army in 2006 and has been stationed at Fort Lee ever since.

Spc. Pauletta Flowers, the wife of Sgt. Flowers and mother of Kourtney, was not in the residence during the fire.
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Victim in Springfield house fire was homeless veteran

Man who died in Springfield house fire was veteran who had been homeless
Written by
Jess Rollins
Oct 20, 2012

Before a Springfield house fire claimed his life, Ronald Moore had been homeless.

He was also — according to an advocate for the homeless — a veteran.

The Rev. Larry Rice said Moore, originally from Bloomington, Ill., had participated in a training program at the Veteran’s Coming Home Center on Jefferson Avenue in 2010.

Referencing Moore’s application for the six-month program, Rice said Moore was a U.S. Army veteran.

The house at the corner of Fort Avenue and Walnut Street was occupied by several formerly homeless veterans, said Melissa Smith, a homeless woman and Moore’s longtime friend.
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Fort Campbell Mom, guilty of setting fire that killed her 2 children

Woman found guilty of setting fire to home, killing her 2 children at Fort Campbell Army post
By Associated Press, Published: June 28

PADUCAH, Ky. — A federal jury has found a woman guilty of setting fire to her home and killing two of her children at Fort Campbell.

U.S. attorney’s office spokeswoman Stephanie Collins says the jury in Paducah, Ky., reached the verdict Thursday in the case of 32-year-old Billi Jo Smallwood after two hours of deliberations.
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Celebration of Life for a Vietnam Veteran who served with Oliver Stone

Celebration of Life for a Vietnam Veteran
May 11, 2012
by Michelle Rotella

One of the men in Hemphill’s platoon in Vietnam, was Oliver Stone, the man who later directed the movie “Platoon.”

Friends and family came together Friday to celebrate the life of a well-known Vietnam veteran Friday in Lackawanna County.

There were tears of joy, sadness and love as friends and family came together at Saint Eulalia’s Church near Elmhurst. They came to celebrate the life of a decorated war hero who died in a fire last month.

The fire at his home on Freytown Road near Moscow, took the life of 69 year old Robert Hemphill.

A friend of Hemphill’s wife said he will never be forgotten.

“He was such a wonderful man he gave so much of himself to this country and such a servant of the United States, and he did such a good job in that role and in the community, he’s done so many things,” said Anne Domin from Elmhurst.

VFW Commander Russell Canevari of Jessup said it’s a special bond that veterans have that brought him out to remember and celebrate Hemphill’s life.
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Fort Bragg Green Beret dies trying to save kids from fire

Green Beret dies trying to save kids from fire
The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Mar 6, 2012 10:55:36 EST
HOPE MILLS, N.C. — A Green Beret recently home from Afghanistan died trying to rescue his two young daughters from their burning home near Fort Bragg in North Carolina early Tuesday, and the girls were also killed in the blaze.

Edward Cantrell and his wife escaped from the 2 a.m. blaze by jumping from the home's second floor, the Cumberland County sheriff's office said. Cantrell then wrapped himself in a blanket and re-entered the burning home in Hope Mills, about 10 miles from the Army base that is home to the Green Berets and other Special Forces units, sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Tanna said.
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Fort Wayne National Guard soldier and girlfriend killed in house fire

Young Fort Wayne Couple ID'd in Fatal House Fire on Robinwood Drive



Fort Wayne, Indiana (Indiana's NewsCenter) - The Allen County Coroner’s Officer has conducted their autopsies of the two young adults that lost their lives during an early morning house fire on Robinwood Drive.

The victims of the fatal fire have been identified as 20-year-old Carson Tubbs of Fort Wayne and 19-year-old Jonette Chacon, also of Fort Wayne.

Fort Wayne Fire officials say that a female resident was awakened by the smell of smoke. She and her daughter were able to leave the house safely. The woman’s son and his fiancee were both still inside the residence when fire crews arrived.

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Camp Pendleton house fire claims life of Marine's daughter

Teenager dies in Camp Pendleton house fire

Written by
Pauline Repard

CAMP PENDLETON — A Marine’s 13-year-old daughter died Thursday morning after a fire swept through their single-family home on base at Camp Pendleton, officials said.

The fire broke out about 6:30 a.m. in the O’Neil Heights military housing area, in the southeastern part of the base near the Naval hospital, base spokesman Sgt. John Jackson said.

One Camp Pendleton firefighter was taken to Tri-City Medical Center for treatment of burns and smoke inhalation, Jackson said.
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Marine needs help after wife and daughter die after house fire

Marine Mourns Loss of Wife, Daughter
By Megan Cassell / Reporter

ONSLOW COUNTY -- The deaths of 22-year-old Tara Lampman and her 6-month-old, Lexi, are being mourned throughout the community.

What's left of their Midway Park home is burned and boarded up. The living room had significant fire damage and the other rooms were covered in smoke.

Tara and Lexi were inside their Butler St. duplex when a living room fire broke out Friday afternoon. 20 base fire and emergency responders arrived within minutes to the fire- one fire department is just down the road from their home.
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Marine Mourns Loss of Wife, Daughter

Six month old baby died after house fire at Camp Lejeune

Baby dies in fire at Camp Lejeune home


CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — A six-month-old girl died Friday afternoon when fire struck her home on Camp Lejeune. The child and her mother were home when the fire began, at about 2:30 p.m., in the living room of their Midway Park home. Both were hospitalized, but the child died.

The mother was in critical condition Friday night at Naval Hospital Camp Lejeune.

The name of the child and her parents are being withheld pending notification of next-of-kin. Base officials are investigating what caused the blaze.
Baby dies in fire at Camp Lejeune home

Florida house fire kills five children

Marion house fire kills five children
Three other victims are at a local hospital.
By Walter Pacheco, Orlando Sentinel
6:32 a.m. EST, November 9, 2010
Five children died in a house fire overnight in north Marion County, officials said.

The three boys and two girls, ages 6 to 15, lived with other family members in the 1700 block of N.E. 182nd Place in Citra.
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Marion house fire kills five children