11-Year-Old Fire Victim Taken Off Life Support
Electrical fire kills 3 children, 3 adults
Updated 10:10 PM EST, Fri, Jan 2, 2009
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WASHINGTON -- An 11-year-old boy has been removed from life support a day after a fire raced through a northeast Washington home, bringing the total deaths to six.
Three children are among the six killed in the early morning fire on New Year's Day. It was the deadliest fire in Washington in three decades, Mayor Adrian Fenty said.
Nine people from two families were in the home in the 1000 block of Jackson Street near Catholic University and the Brookland Metro station when the fire started, officials said. Those inside were sleeping in rooms on all three floors of the home at the time of the blaze, officials said.
Three people died at the scene. The victims are:
- Oscar Wilson III, 11
- Keith Nelson, 23
- Tawanna Gantt, 22
- Their 5-year-old daughter, Kaniya Gant
- Joseph Wilson, 10
- Charles Smith, 72
The fire victims had just celebrated Nelson's birthday.
Smith, a retired master mechanic, was the father of the home's owner, Michelle Wilson. She and her husband, Oscar Wilson Jr., survived the blaze but their sons Joseph and Oscar III did not.
The Wilsons had just attended a memorial service for their 15-year-old daughter, Talisha Ford, who was killed by a stray bullet at a D.C. club in December 2007.
The electrical fire began in the basement ceiling and may have burned for some time before spreading throughout the two-story house, officials said. The home had smoke detectors, but it's not clear whether they worked.
Officials said they responded to the scene within two minutes of the first 911 call. More than 100 firefighters battled the blaze, smashing windows and searching every corner of the burning house for survivors.
Fire Chief Dennis Rubin said the house was built using an older balloon construction method that allowed heat to move quickly through the structure. Rubin believes that allowed the fire to move more quickly than in other houses.
On Friday, workers boarded up windows at the gutted home with plywood. A pink, red and green stuffed animal was placed in a tree out front.
22-year-old Tawana Gantt was a city employee, and worked in constituent services in the office for Ward 5 DC Councilman Harry Thomas. Thomas has set up a fund to help the victims and surivvors of Thursday's fire.
Donations can be sent to:
Tawana Gantt Fund
c/o Ward 5 Business Council
PO Box 90918
Washington, DC 20090
Copyright Associated Press / NBC Washington
First Published: Jan 1, 2009 8:37 AM EST
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