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Investigators lean toward accidental as cause in fatal Youngstown fire
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Warped siding and charred wood show the effects of a Wednesday morning fire at this 532 Dorothy Ave. home that killed a 38-year-old woman and badly burned a man. Fire investigators still are trying to determine a cause, but they are leaning toward its being accidental.
By Joe Gorman
Youngstown
A man’s screams woke neighbors early Wednesday on Dorothy Avenue, and when they ran outside, they found a home in flames and a man on the front lawn covered in burns screaming for his wife.
Patty Rowbotham and Judy Weidner both came outside and saw the man who lives in the 532 Dorothy Ave. home on the South Side on his front lawn, naked and covered in burns yelling for his wife, who was trapped inside the home, which caught fire sometime between 2:30 and 3 a.m.
The woman, who the Mahoning County Coroner’s office identified as Martha Cole, 38, did not make it out and was found dead by firefighters. The man, who police identified as Richard Adams, no age given, was taken to the burn unit at Akron Children’s Hospital. Cole’s death is the third by fire in the city this year.
As fire investigators shoveled through debris looking for clues later Wednesday morning, Rowbotham, who lives three doors up, and Weidner, who lives next door to the home, said it was the man’s screaming that woke them up.
“I heard someone yelling,” Rowbotham said. “He [Adams] was lying in the yard naked and screaming and said, ‘My wife’s in there.’”
“My neighbors and I came out, and we heard a boom,” she added.
“All I could hear was him screaming. He was screaming for her,” Weidner said.
Weidner covered the man with a blanket before paramedics arrived. She said firefighters arrived quickly once 911 was called.
Fire investigator Capt. Alvin Ware said Adams had to jump out a second-floor window to escape the flames. He said the fire had to have been burning for awhile before it was discovered because the home was engulfed when firefighters arrived.
The home did not have smoke detectors, Ware said.
Ware said he does not know how the couple were alerted to the flames, but Cole, who was found in a second-floor room, and Adams were both awake. The couple also owned eight dogs, but seven of the dogs died in the fire, Ware said.
Ware said the fire started on the first floor. He and a member of the state fire marshal’s office were combing through the debris Wednesday. Ware said a cause has not yet been established but that from what investigators know so far, they are leaning toward its being accidental.
On Oct. 5, a 77-year-old woman in the 1600 block of Homewood Avenue was killed in a fire that investigators say was caused by careless smoking and was ruled accidental.
In January, a man was killed by a fire in the 300 block of Brockway Avenue on the West Side.