“We’re all saddened by the passing of Ellen,” Tippecanoe officials said in a statement released Monday morning. “She was a great student who always had a positive attitude and a smile that could brighten a room. She will be missed greatly, and our thoughts are with the family at this time.”
Cincinnati dispatchers received an emergency call at 6:50 a.m. on the report of a fire on the second floor of 2824 Digby Ave., with people trapped on the third floor, according to fire officials.
Kohls lived in the three-story house at 2824 Digby Ave. with six friends, his mother told the Dayton Daily News. Garner did not live there. Both attended the University of Cincinnati, where Kohls majored in marketing and Garner in design.
“An aggressive interior attack quickly brought the fire under control in less than 10 minutes and confined the fire to one room,” District One Fire Chief Gregory A. Potter said in a statement on the department’s website.
Ten people were in the house at the time of the blaze, and all were believed to have been asleep when the fire occurred, Cincinnati Fire Captain Dan Rottmueller said. Some of the people inside were residents and some were friends of the residents.
Six were able to escape before firefighters arrived. Four were rescued, including two in the basement, and Garner and Kohls, who were on the third floor, Rottmueller said. One of the basement residents was treated then released from an area hospital, Rottmueller said.
The fire, ruled accidental, was caused by a space heater placed too close to bedding, Rottmueller said.
Friends of Garner told the Dayton Daily News that Garner was into costuming when she was in high school, making costumes for many school plays and musicals.
Garner had just finished an internship in New York City last year, where she worked at Garan Inc. as a design intern for the infant/toddler girls Garanimals division, according to her LinkedIn profile.
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