A mother and a 2-month-old infant and a 4-year-old child perished in the fire.
The condition of the two older children, who escaped the fire, one by jumping out a two-story window, is still not known. They were taken to the hospital.
EARLIER: DAYTON — A mother and two children were killed, and two other children were injured Thursday night, Nov. 12, in a fire at a duplex on East First Street, Dayton fire officials said.
The mother, a 2-month-old infant and a 4-year-old child, whose names were not immediately available, apparently were trapped in the fire in the 2800 block of East First Street, Dayton East District Fire Chief Ron Fleming said.
The cause of the fire is not immediately known, Fleming said, noting it appeared to have started in the front room of the residence.
“We don’t think it was the kids,” he said, adding that the initial investigation placed four children on the second floor.
Fleming could not immediately say where the mother and children were in the house when they died.
Crews were dispatched at 9:16 p.m. on a report of a fire with people trapped, and the first floor was engulfed when fire crews arrived at 9:19 p.m., Fleming said.
Tabitha Coleman, her 2-year-old son and her boyfriend, Tranel Philpot, were in their home in the other half of the duplex when they heard smoke detectors going off next door.
Philpot said he ran out front and leaned over the railing that separates the two porches. The front door to that residence was open, Philpot said. “All I could see was the whole couch in flames.”
“We went out back and we heard them screaming,” Philpot said.
Philpot said he tried to kick in their bathroom window but there was “too much” fire and smoke.
The Red Cross was dispatched to help that family.
“We are helping the family” by providing food, clothing and temporary lodging, said Elizabeth Long, Red Cross disaster public affairs.
Fleming said when fire crews arrived, two of the children who had escaped told firefighters that their siblings were still inside.
One of those children, whose ages he believed were 8 to 10 years old, had jumped from the second story.
All four children were taken to Children’s Medical Center, where a spokesman said he could not confirm that the children had been taken there.
In the first minutes after fire crews sent the children to the hospital, the 4-year-old was said to be in “grave condition,” Fleming said.
There were conflicting reports about the father, whether he was in the home at the time of the fire. Fire crews were expected to remain on the scene for much of the night.
Mark Pardue of Kettering, who identified himself as the owner of the building, said the victims moved there about six months ago.
“She was a real nice girl,” Pardue said. “It breaks my heart.”
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