‘We’ve got six to bury at one time’

By Ed Runyan | June 17, 2011 at 12:00a.m.

Six Dead in Warren Fire

WARREN — A family of four plus two children spending the night died in an early-morning house fire on Landsdowne Avenue Northwest today. Firefighters don’t know yet what caused the fire or where it started but believe it had been burning quite a while before a neighbor became aware of it and called 911. Firefighters performed CPR on several of the victims, but it’s possible all six were dead when they were removed from the Cape Cod-style house. The four children were found in the attic, where the fire caused the majority of its damage, while the two adults were found on the first floor.

COUNSELING

Warren school officials said counselors are at the McGuffey K-8 school on Tod Avenue Northwest and the Jefferson K-8 school on Tod Avenue Southwest again today for anyone wishing to talk to someone about the house fire Thursday that killed six family members. Telephone callers also can use 211 for assistance.

Three of the Dorsey family attended Warren City Schools. Miracle Hugley was a third-grader at the Jefferson K-8 school. Ariell Dorsey was a third-grader at the McGuffey K-8 school, and Derek Dorsey Jr. was a fifth-grader at McGuffey K-8.

Additionally, their grandmother is employed by the school system.

Derek Dorsey Jr.

Derek Dorsey

Miracle Hugley

Ariell Dorsey

Audrey Johnson

The six fatalities from Thursday’s 911 Lansdowne Ave. fire are more than double the previous high of three fatalities recorded by the Warren Fire Department in a single fire since 1968.

Records compiled by the fire department indicate that the city has not had a fire causing more than three fatalities in a single fire since records were kept in 1968.

There were four fires that killed three people each:

Dec. 24, 1969, on Beechwood Street Northeast.

Feb. 3, 1976, on Edgewood Street Northeast.

Dec. 20, 1979, on Westlawn Avenue Southwest.

May 16, 1998, on Ogden Avenue Northwest.

Three fires since 1968 killed two people each.

There have been 68 Warren fire fatalities in all since 1968.

By Ed Runyan

runyan@vindy.com

WARREN

"We've got six to bury at one time,” Linda Dorsey said of her son, his fiancée, three grandchildren and a teenage relative.

At the home of Dorsey and Edward Benard of Ferndale Avenue Southwest, the scope of a tragic Thursday morning house fire was only starting to sink in.

The four members of the Derek Dorsey family — Audrey Johnson and Derek and their two children, Derek Jr. and Ariell — along with two young relatives, died in the blaze at 911 Landsdowne Ave. NW.

Linda Dorsey said Derek, 31, and Audrey are the parents of Derek Jr., 11, and Ariell, 9. Miracle Hugley, 9, was Linda and Edward’s granddaughter and lived with them but was staying overnight with her cousins, Linda said.

The sixth person in the house was a teenage niece of Audrey’s from Columbus who had been staying with the family this summer.

The fire was reported at 4:43 a.m. by a neighbor, and firefighters believe the fire had been burning for a while before anyone noticed.

Division of State Fire Marshal investigators have determined the fire most likely was the result of an unattended charcoal grill located on the back deck of the home in close proximity to a wood fence and vinyl siding. Radiant heat from the grill most likely caused the fire, which then spread to the upper level of the home.

The fire was shooting 30 feet above the one-story home when firefighters arrived, said fire Chief Ken Nussle. All six people were pulled from the home unconscious. Firefighters tried to perform CPR on several of the victims, but all were pronounced dead a short time later.

The six fatalities are more than double the previous high of three fatalities recorded by the Warren Fire Department in a single fire since 1968, Nussle said.

Warren Mayor Michael O’Brien said he doesn’t believe any single Warren fire ever had killed more than three people.

“It’s a tragic day for the city of Warren,” O’Brien said, adding that the loss of four children makes it especially heartbreaking.

“I have a 9-year-old son myself, and it’s just unbearable think about.”

Warren school officials said counselors are at the McGuffey K-8 school on Tod Avenue Northwest and the Jefferson K-8 school on Tod Avenue Southwest again today for anyone wishing to talk to someone about the tragedy. People also can use the 211 phone assistance line.

Miracle was a third-grader at the Jefferson K-8 school. Ariell was a third-grader at the McGuffey K-8 school, and Derek was a fifth-grader at McGuffey K-8.

Linda, who is employed by Warren City Schools, had legal custody of Miracle, who was staying the night at the Derek Dorsey home at 911 Landsdowne Ave. because Miracle “loved to stay with Ariell.”

Linda said the cousins “were like two peas in a pod.”

“She wanted to stay with her uncle Derek. She didn’t want to come home,” Linda said.

The six were planning a trip to an amusement park today with some other friends, Linda said.

“He was a good guy,” Linda said of her son. “If you needed him, call him, and he was right there,” she said. Audrey worked at an area call center.

Nussle said firefighters found Audrey in a downstairs bedroom and Derek elsewhere on the first floor and removed them from the house.

Parts of the attic were coming down into the first floor at the time, but firefighters were able to get to the attic and found two of the children.

The last two children found were under a part of the roof that had collapsed, Nussle said.

Investigators found no smoke detectors in the house. The lack of smoke detectors and the length of time it took for anyone to notice the fire allowed the fire to burn a long time before help arrived, Nussle said, estimating the fire had been burning 30 minutes.

Ashley Simunich of Lovers Lane said she doesn’t know what woke her up, but it must have been loud because she is a hard sleeper.

Simunich heard “crackling. I had the feeling I should look out the window. It sounded like rain, but I looked out.”

She looked out her bedroom window, which faces the back of the Dorsey house, and saw fire mainly on the back porch of Dorsey residence. She also felt a great deal of heat. She called 911 and told her husband.

“It started crawling up the roof,” she said of the fire, adding that she and her husband went outside and to the side of the Dorseys’ house to wait for firefighters.

Simunich said she doesn’t know whether the Dorseys were using the grill Wednesday evening.

Rico Morgan, who lives a few houses away from the Dorsey residence and saw the Dorsey children playing outside regularly, said he’s haunted by the memory of seeing all four children in the attic window Wednesday afternoon.

“They were waving and saying ‘Hi,’” Morgan said, adding that all four said “Hi,” so he kept waving and saying “Hi” to each one individually.

“That thought just keeps ringing in my head,” Morgan said.

When Morgan awoke Thursday morning, he saw flames shooting high out of that same attic where the children were waving Wednesday.

“It’s tragic,” he said. “If those children were in that attic ...”

Linda Bradley of Warren said her god-daughter, Teneisha Wright of Warren, was going to take her four children to King’s Island amusement park today with the Dorseys. One of Teneisha’s children also was thinking about staying the night at the Dorseys but did not.

The interim superintendent for Warren City Schools, Loree Richardson, said of the tragedy: “The most important thing anyone can do is pray for the families and friends of those who perished in the fire and remember that everyone grieves in different ways. The best thing you can do is take care of yourself, talk to someone and offer a listening ear to others.”

Unlike a year ago, when the Warren Fire Department had just one of its three fire stations open because of staffing issues, the department had all three stations open Thursday.

Firefighters from the nearby Parkman Road station arrived at the fire first and were followed by nine more from the South Street station, Nussle said. Firefighters from the Atlantic Street station traveled to the South Street station to cover the rest of the city.

A woman living near the Dorsey residence, Mattie Vail, said she gives the fire department credit for the aggressive manner in which its members tried to rescue the victims.

“I have to tip my hat to them. They were on it,” Vail said.

Nussle said four firefighters suffered minor injuries such as shoulder and back sprains in the fire, but none required medical treatment.