Nine dead in South Memphis house fire; deadliest since 1920s
Source: Memphis Commercial Appeal
By Yolanda Jones and Katie Fretland of The Commercial Appeal
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Updated: 1:00 p.m.
Nine people died Monday morning in a South Memphis house blaze that fire officials called the city’s deadliest fire in almost a century.
Memphis Fire Director Gina Sweat confirmed the deaths during a 9 a.m. press conference. She said one child pulled from the residence was still fighting for his life at LeBonheur Children’s Medical Center.
The names of the victims were not released during the briefing at the Memphis Fire Museum, pending notification of next-of-kin.
(See a gallery of pictures from the deadliest fire in nearly a century.)
Fire officials said 10 people were in the home in the 1100 block of Severson Avenue, off Walker Avenue, when crews arrived at 1:22 a.m. ... The cause of the fire remains under investigation, but Sweat said it appeared to start in the living room.
Read more: http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/393087791.xhtml
Saying that this is the deadliest house fire since the 1920s really puts a point on this. Back then, it would have been commonplace for houses to be heated with kerosene, wood, and coal.
Fox News says the toll is up to eleven. The time stamp for that was two hours ago, the same time that this story was updated. I don't think updates are going to make this story any easier to take.
Published September 12, 2016
Seven children were among 11 people who died when a horrific fire trapped them inside a one-story Memphis home early Monday morning.
Pictures of the devastation showed the innards of the brick building torched. The outside of the house was left largely untouched. Metal bars remained over almost all the windows. Only one was broken open, by the fire crew that tried in vain to save the people inside.
The outside of a Memphis home where a fire killed 11 people. Metal bars were placed over most windows of the house. (AP)
“I’ve never seen firemen cry, but they were bawling like babies when they brought the children out,” neighbor Shoundra Hampton told The Tennessean.
Full disclosure: I got the picture from ABC News, but it was distributed by the Associated Press:
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