Southern Ohio house fire kills 5 residents, including baby

Associated Press

PEDRO, Ohio

A fire that killed five people and injured seven at a 12-bedroom house in rural, southern Ohio has been ruled accidental.

State fire marshal’s spokesman Shane Cartmill said the fire started at or near a portable electrical heater in a breezeway at the center of the home in Elizabeth Township, near where Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia meet.

One survivor said he jumped out a window to escape the flames, which left only a few studs and a small section of the home’s side still in place.

Four women and an 8-month-old boy were killed in the fire, Ohio’s deadliest this year, Cartmill said. The seven injured were expect-ed to be OK, said Kyle Whitmer, who lived in the home.

Whitmer said he was awakened early Monday by someone kicking in the door of the room where he slept. He jumped off a second-floor balcony and tried to save someone, anyone.

As he sifted through the ashes at midday, Whitmer, 20, said the house was owned by his mother, Kathy Whitmer, 52. She was hospitalized after burning her feet running through the house to warn others, he said.

It was Kathy Whitmer’s dream house, a place where she could live with her family, friends and even friends of friends, her son said.

They lived there with Kyle Whitmer’s girlfriend and her mother; his sister and her boyfriend; and friends who had fallen on hard times. The sister, Rachel Whitmer, was among the dead, Kyle Whitmer said. He said the boy who died was named Xavier and was the son of a woman dating Kyle Whitmer’s friend.

As he looked through what remained of the home, Kyle Whitmer opened a tarnished storage cabinet in search of photographs, perhaps of his sister, but they had burned.

The home sat in a valley in Lawrence County’s Elizabeth Township, about 15 miles north of Ashland, Ky., near where the Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia meet. A creek winds behind the house, clotheslines crisscross through the back yard, and the metal frame of a child’s bicycle sat under a sugar maple tree out front.

Auditor’s records show Kathy Whitmer bought the home in 2004. Her son said it was purchased in a foreclosure sale.

“It was awful,” said Regina Besco, who lives in a mobile home next door. “There were family members outside knowing they couldn’t get inside to their loved ones. There was nothing they could do but watch it get worse and worse until it was engulfed in flames. It was terrible, and my heart went out to them.”