FATAL FIRES

FATAL FIRES

Multiple deaths

Some of the fires in the Mahoning and Shenango valleys since the 1990s that claimed three or more lives, or the lives of two or more children:

Nov. 19, 1993: Fire kills Robyn Williams, 22, and her two boys, 3 and 2, at a Shenango Park Apartments complex in Hermitage, Pa. Williams’ 5-year-old son who survived was playing with his mother’s cigarette lighter and started a blanket on fire.

Dec. 22, 1993: Wardell and Mary Neeley and five of their grandchildren die in a fire that sweeps through West Glenaven Avenue home on the city’s South Side. The fire started when a pot of greens left simmering on the stove ignited.

Nov. 3, 1996: Loretta Lynn Conner and her two sons, 6 and 3, die in a fire in a mobile home on New Bedford Road in Mahoning Township, Pa.

Nov. 18, 1996: Edward Jones, 34, his live-in girlfriend, and their three children die in a fire that destroys their trailer in Liverpool Township in Columbiana County.

Jan. 27, 1997: Anita Marie Hall, 23, and two children, 2 1/2 months and 14 months, die in a fire in their Lansdowne Boulevard home on Youngstown’s East Side. The home had no working smoke detector.

Nov. 22, 1999: Two sisters and a friend sleeping over die in a fire that guts a West Woodland Avenue home on Youngstown’s South Side. Cause of the blaze was believed to be a pot left unattended on a stove.

May 2, 2002: Two sisters, 8 and 4, die from smoke inhalation when fire destroys their East Lucius Avenue home on the city’s South Side. Investigation showed the fire was deliberately set.

Dec. 4, 2002: A fire at an Amish home in Pulaski Township in Pennsylvania claims the lives of five children.

Jan. 2, 2004: Two fires, one in Youngstown and one in Fowler Township, Trumbull County, claim five lives — two in Youngstown and three in Fowler, including two boys, 8 and 4.

July 20, 2006: Andria Price, 33, and her three daughters, 13, 8 and 6, die of smoke inhalation after a fire at their home at 902 N. Main St. An electrical malfunction caused the fire, the state fire marshal’s office ruled.

Jan. 23, 2008: Six people die in a fire on Stewart Avenue on Youngstown’s East Side. Fire officials determine arson was the cause.

On Dec. 20, 1980, a Hudson Avenue woman, her 16-year-old son and six of her grandchildren die when fire, caused by faulty wiring, sweeps through their South Side home. It stands as Youngstown’s worst fatal fire.

Source: Vindicator files