2 children die in fire; mother suffers burns

A neighbor said flames kept him from getting to the girls through a window.
By ED RUNYAN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
LEAVITTSBURG -- A mother's desperate cries for help alerted neighbors that her house was on fire with small children inside, but by the time anyone could help, it was too late to save two little girls.
One-year-old Shadale Wright and 3-year-old Au' Zua Wright died at the scene. Trumbull County's forensic pathologist Dr. Humphrey Germaniuk said the cause of death is pending.
Their mother, Deit Dunkerton, 27, was burned and taken by helicopter to MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland, where she was in fair condition Wednesday.
Police said Calvin Wright is the girls' father.
The fire broke out around 10 a.m. at the Cape Cod-style house at 823 McConnell Road, near LaBrae's new school complex on North Leavitt Road.
A 27-year-old male friend in the house at the time received burns to his hand but didn't immediately seek medical attention. The man, of Warren, said he was spending the night in the house with Dunkerton.
The man said he and Dunkerton awoke in the bedroom to flames. He said that it looked like the fire might have started around a sheet in the kitchen, and that one of the children might have started it.
He and Dunkerton filled a large pot with water but couldn't put out the flames, he said, and the fire quickly got out of control. He said Dunkerton immediately tried to rescue the girls, but "one of the kids ran to the back" of the house toward the bathroom.
Attempted rescue
Dunkerton then went outside and into the back yard, near the bathroom, and tried unsuccessfully to rescue them from there.
"I just know if I'd have stayed there any longer, I would have been dead," the man said.
The bodies were removed around noon after the state fire marshal's office and Dr. Germaniuk had viewed the scene.
"You just feel so helpless," said Lou Kelecava, Dunkerton's next-door neighbor. "You know there's kids in there, and you can't do anything to get to them."
Kelecava said he was standing in his kitchen and looking out the window, only several feet from the side of Dunkerton's house, when he saw the fire and heard Dunkerton yell, "The babies are in the bathroom."
He called 911, then ran outside and found a large spool that used to have cable on it. He placed it near the bathroom window to stand on, broke out the window and called to the girls inside.
"They didn't respond," he said. "I couldn't get in the window because the flames were too hot," Kelecava said, adding that about all he could do was hose down the house until firefighters arrived.
Kelecava said he felt terrible about the girls' deaths. He had spent time playing with them over the past year and letting them play with his grandson in his driveway. "They were always coming over," he said.
The fire also did extensive damage to Kelecava's home and garage.
Firefighters' efforts
Kenneth Schick, Warren Township fire chief, said his department was "very aggressive in trying to find the kids." Bystanders told firefighters about the children as soon as they arrived.
The north side of the house was engulfed in fire, Schick said, adding that the house is a total loss. Firefighters from several area departments helped, including Champion, Braceville and Southington townships.
Schick and state officials were at the fire scene late Wednesday and said no cause had been determined; neither had its point of origin.
The house is owned by U.G.K. Limited, listed by the county auditor as having an address on Woodbine Avenue Southeast in Warren. Calls to the listed phone number were not returned. A garage attached to the back of the house had a U.G.K. sign.
Warren Township police Lt. Don Bishop, however, said it really wasn't clear who owns the house. He called it "something of a flop house" and said he didn't think Dunkerton lived there all the time.
He said the police department has been to the residence in the past to look into a car sales business someone was trying to open.
Neighbors' accounts
Kellie Clendenin, who lives several houses away, said she was also alerted to the fire by Dunkerton's screams. "All I know is, she kept saying, 'The babies are still in the house.' I tried to do what I could to help."
Clendenin took Dunkerton to her house to give her something to wear because she had on almost no clothing. She said she thinks Dunkerton had lived in the house about a year.
Another neighbor, Sue Huggins of Masters Road, said Dunkerton appeared to have burns on her face and hands.
runyan@vindy.com