Posted by Dirk Roach on March 29, 2000 at 15:55:13:
I Saw this article today, while haveing lunch,
This folks is why we have the smoke dector laws and have to abide by them.
MARCH 29, 16:16 EST
Eight Killed in Mobile Home Fire
By RUSS BYNUM
Associated Press Writer
ACWORTH, Ga. (AP) - A fast-moving fire engulfed a four-bedroom mobile
home early Wednesday, killing eight people, including an infant.
Linda Joanne Cochran, her four children, a niece, her teen-age son’s
girlfriend and the girlfriend’s baby all died in the blaze that broke out
around 3 a.m. 30 miles northwest of Atlanta. Officials said the double-wide
mobile home did not have a working smoke detector.
Five of the bodies were found in a bedroom near the back door and three
others were in the front of the mobile home, authorities said.
It appears they were all trying to exit,'' said Mark Gresham, spokesman for the Cobb County Fire Department. Neighbor Jim Wheeling said he tried to open windows to get to the victims, but all he could see inside were thick smoke and the red glow of flames. The back end was burning pretty good and you could see the smoke
coming out all around the trailer. I knew it was too late then,‘’ Wheeling
said. ``I just wish to God there was something else I could’ve done.‘’
The fire started in or near a clothes dryer and probably smoldered in some
clothes before it spread, said John Oxendine, the state insurance and fire
commissioner.
When the flames did spread they quickly engulfed the mobile home, which was fully ablaze when firefighters arrived at 3:15 a.m.
Identities of all the victims were not immediately available. Ed Converse, owner of
mobile-home park, identified Cochran and gave her relationship to the other victims.
Converse said he wasn’t surprised Cochran would have seven other people living with
her.
``If there was a stray, she took them in - anyone, anything. She had a huge heart,‘’
he said.
Though Converse said his mobile homes are equipped with smoke detectors,
Oxendine said ``either there was no smoke detector or, if there was one, it was not
operational.‘’
Had there been a working smoke detector,'' he said, they would have awakened and had plenty of
time to get out.‘’