4 GIRLS DIE IN NORTH SIDE INFERNO
Flames delay Gebhardt Ave. rescue efforts
By John Doherty and Amber Smith
Staff Writers
Four girls died in the burning bedroom of their North Side home this morning. Sheets of flame delayed firefighters who tried to get inside.
The home at 117 Gebhardt Ave. was an inferno when firefighters arrived just after 5 a.m. There were no smoke detectors inside.
Mary Massey, 11; her sister, Paula Massey, 10; and cousins Lena Ferguson, 6, and Rena Hines, 12, were killed in the fire.
A television is suspected of causing the fire.
Among those watching the futile rescue effort was the children's grandmother, Lena Massey, who lives next door. "It was terrible," she said. "They couldn't get into the building."
Robert Klasen of Station 2 on Lodi Street was one of the firefighters in the first trucks at the scene.
"Flames were coming out the front of the building. The power line was down across the street, arcing," he said.
Flames on the lower level had to be knocked down before firefighters could climb into the second-floor windows. Firefighters at the rear of the house tried to open a door using a sledgehammer.
When it finally came off its hinges, Firefighter David Brazell recalled, "fire just flew out at you."
Someone tugged a hose up a ladder and into the second floor.
Firefighters Jim Ballard was the first rescuer in behind the hose.
Immediately he found two cats. He crawled on hands and knees along the right wall of the house and made his way to the bedroom where the four girls slept, three in one bed and one in the other.
"I don't think they woke up," Ballard said. "I don't think they felt anything. I hope they didn't."
Ballard, Brazell, and Bob Fleming found the four children.
The firemen carried three of the bodies down a ladder. The fourth was taken out through the front door. All were declared dead at the scene. The bodies were taken to the county medical examiner's office, where autopsies will be performed.
Rena Hines lived with her paternal grandmother, Blanche Ferguson, on Willis Avenue. Lena Ferguson was the daughter of June and Paul Ferguson of 126 North Geddes St. The two girls were staying with their cousins overnight.
The parents of Massey girls, Patricia Hines and James Massey, escaped the blaze without injury. Police took statements from them at the Public Safety Building today before deciding the fire was accidental.
An investigator close to the case said the parents told police they were watching television in the living room. Hines told investigators Massey was already sleeping on a chair when she fell asleep at about 2:45 a.m.
The house was on fire when they awoke at about 5:05 a.m. Massey ran out of the house to call firefighters while Hines stayed, calling to the children, according to the statement they gave police. She said the flames and heat drove her back.
FIREFIGHTERS WERE called at 5:07 a.m. Flames were shooting from the second-story windows when they arrived.
Mass "said the television was on fire when he woke up," Deputy Chief Buck said. "The TV is still on and the TV is in the area where the fire started. His story coincides with the physical evidence."
Massey owns the home. City housing officials said no code violations were recorded against the home.
At least two of the children were dead when firefighters removed them from the house. Sheets covered their bodies. Rescuers worked unsuccessfully on the other two children as they were taken out of the house.
Paramedics from Eastern ambulance protected the bodies until county medical examiners arrived...
The fire was reported by a neighbor, Janet Baldwin of 208 Catawba St., who was wakened by Patricia Massey's Screams.
"The mother was outside the house banging on her door," Baldwin said. "She was calling for the kids to get out of the house. She kept yelling 'Paula, Paula.'"
BALDWIN, WHO lives at the corner of Catawba Street and Gebhardt Avenue, said the fire had already engulfed the house when she heard Massey's cries...
-Syracuse Herald Journal, Syracuse, NY, Friday, August 18, 1989, p. A1, A7
Flames delay Gebhardt Ave. rescue efforts
By John Doherty and Amber Smith
Staff Writers
Four girls died in the burning bedroom of their North Side home this morning. Sheets of flame delayed firefighters who tried to get inside.
The home at 117 Gebhardt Ave. was an inferno when firefighters arrived just after 5 a.m. There were no smoke detectors inside.
Mary Massey, 11; her sister, Paula Massey, 10; and cousins Lena Ferguson, 6, and Rena Hines, 12, were killed in the fire.
A television is suspected of causing the fire.
Among those watching the futile rescue effort was the children's grandmother, Lena Massey, who lives next door. "It was terrible," she said. "They couldn't get into the building."
Robert Klasen of Station 2 on Lodi Street was one of the firefighters in the first trucks at the scene.
"Flames were coming out the front of the building. The power line was down across the street, arcing," he said.
Flames on the lower level had to be knocked down before firefighters could climb into the second-floor windows. Firefighters at the rear of the house tried to open a door using a sledgehammer.
When it finally came off its hinges, Firefighter David Brazell recalled, "fire just flew out at you."
Someone tugged a hose up a ladder and into the second floor.
Firefighters Jim Ballard was the first rescuer in behind the hose.
Immediately he found two cats. He crawled on hands and knees along the right wall of the house and made his way to the bedroom where the four girls slept, three in one bed and one in the other.
"I don't think they woke up," Ballard said. "I don't think they felt anything. I hope they didn't."
Ballard, Brazell, and Bob Fleming found the four children.
The firemen carried three of the bodies down a ladder. The fourth was taken out through the front door. All were declared dead at the scene. The bodies were taken to the county medical examiner's office, where autopsies will be performed.
Rena Hines lived with her paternal grandmother, Blanche Ferguson, on Willis Avenue. Lena Ferguson was the daughter of June and Paul Ferguson of 126 North Geddes St. The two girls were staying with their cousins overnight.
The parents of Massey girls, Patricia Hines and James Massey, escaped the blaze without injury. Police took statements from them at the Public Safety Building today before deciding the fire was accidental.
An investigator close to the case said the parents told police they were watching television in the living room. Hines told investigators Massey was already sleeping on a chair when she fell asleep at about 2:45 a.m.
The house was on fire when they awoke at about 5:05 a.m. Massey ran out of the house to call firefighters while Hines stayed, calling to the children, according to the statement they gave police. She said the flames and heat drove her back.
FIREFIGHTERS WERE called at 5:07 a.m. Flames were shooting from the second-story windows when they arrived.
Mass "said the television was on fire when he woke up," Deputy Chief Buck said. "The TV is still on and the TV is in the area where the fire started. His story coincides with the physical evidence."
Massey owns the home. City housing officials said no code violations were recorded against the home.
At least two of the children were dead when firefighters removed them from the house. Sheets covered their bodies. Rescuers worked unsuccessfully on the other two children as they were taken out of the house.
Paramedics from Eastern ambulance protected the bodies until county medical examiners arrived...
The fire was reported by a neighbor, Janet Baldwin of 208 Catawba St., who was wakened by Patricia Massey's Screams.
"The mother was outside the house banging on her door," Baldwin said. "She was calling for the kids to get out of the house. She kept yelling 'Paula, Paula.'"
BALDWIN, WHO lives at the corner of Catawba Street and Gebhardt Avenue, said the fire had already engulfed the house when she heard Massey's cries...
-Syracuse Herald Journal, Syracuse, NY, Friday, August 18, 1989, p. A1, A7
4 GIRLS DIE IN NORTH SIDE INFERNO
Flames delay Gebhardt Ave. rescue efforts
By John Doherty and Amber Smith
Staff Writers
Four girls died in the burning bedroom of their North Side home this morning. Sheets of flame delayed firefighters who tried to get inside.
The home at 117 Gebhardt Ave. was an inferno when firefighters arrived just after 5 a.m. There were no smoke detectors inside.
Mary Massey, 11; her sister, Paula Massey, 10; and cousins Lena Ferguson, 6, and Rena Hines, 12, were killed in the fire.
A television is suspected of causing the fire.
Among those watching the futile rescue effort was the children's grandmother, Lena Massey, who lives next door. "It was terrible," she said. "They couldn't get into the building."
Robert Klasen of Station 2 on Lodi Street was one of the firefighters in the first trucks at the scene.
"Flames were coming out the front of the building. The power line was down across the street, arcing," he said.
Flames on the lower level had to be knocked down before firefighters could climb into the second-floor windows. Firefighters at the rear of the house tried to open a door using a sledgehammer.
When it finally came off its hinges, Firefighter David Brazell recalled, "fire just flew out at you."
Someone tugged a hose up a ladder and into the second floor.
Firefighters Jim Ballard was the first rescuer in behind the hose.
Immediately he found two cats. He crawled on hands and knees along the right wall of the house and made his way to the bedroom where the four girls slept, three in one bed and one in the other.
"I don't think they woke up," Ballard said. "I don't think they felt anything. I hope they didn't."
Ballard, Brazell, and Bob Fleming found the four children.
The firemen carried three of the bodies down a ladder. The fourth was taken out through the front door. All were declared dead at the scene. The bodies were taken to the county medical examiner's office, where autopsies will be performed.
Rena Hines lived with her paternal grandmother, Blanche Ferguson, on Willis Avenue. Lena Ferguson was the daughter of June and Paul Ferguson of 126 North Geddes St. The two girls were staying with their cousins overnight.
The parents of Massey girls, Patricia Hines and James Massey, escaped the blaze without injury. Police took statements from them at the Public Safety Building today before deciding the fire was accidental.
An investigator close to the case said the parents told police they were watching television in the living room. Hines told investigators Massey was already sleeping on a chair when she fell asleep at about 2:45 a.m.
The house was on fire when they awoke at about 5:05 a.m. Massey ran out of the house to call firefighters while Hines stayed, calling to the children, according to the statement they gave police. She said the flames and heat drove her back.
FIREFIGHTERS WERE called at 5:07 a.m. Flames were shooting from the second-story windows when they arrived.
Mass "said the television was on fire when he woke up," Deputy Chief Buck said. "The TV is still on and the TV is in the area where the fire started. His story coincides with the physical evidence."
Massey owns the home. City housing officials said no code violations were recorded against the home.
At least two of the children were dead when firefighters removed them from the house. Sheets covered their bodies. Rescuers worked unsuccessfully on the other two children as they were taken out of the house.
Paramedics from Eastern ambulance protected the bodies until county medical examiners arrived...
The fire was reported by a neighbor, Janet Baldwin of 208 Catawba St., who was wakened by Patricia Massey's Screams.
"The mother was outside the house banging on her door," Baldwin said. "She was calling for the kids to get out of the house. She kept yelling 'Paula, Paula.'"
BALDWIN, WHO lives at the corner of Catawba Street and Gebhardt Avenue, said the fire had already engulfed the house when she heard Massey's cries...
-Syracuse Herald Journal, Syracuse, NY, Friday, August 18, 1989, p. A1, A7
Flames delay Gebhardt Ave. rescue efforts
By John Doherty and Amber Smith
Staff Writers
Four girls died in the burning bedroom of their North Side home this morning. Sheets of flame delayed firefighters who tried to get inside.
The home at 117 Gebhardt Ave. was an inferno when firefighters arrived just after 5 a.m. There were no smoke detectors inside.
Mary Massey, 11; her sister, Paula Massey, 10; and cousins Lena Ferguson, 6, and Rena Hines, 12, were killed in the fire.
A television is suspected of causing the fire.
Among those watching the futile rescue effort was the children's grandmother, Lena Massey, who lives next door. "It was terrible," she said. "They couldn't get into the building."
Robert Klasen of Station 2 on Lodi Street was one of the firefighters in the first trucks at the scene.
"Flames were coming out the front of the building. The power line was down across the street, arcing," he said.
Flames on the lower level had to be knocked down before firefighters could climb into the second-floor windows. Firefighters at the rear of the house tried to open a door using a sledgehammer.
When it finally came off its hinges, Firefighter David Brazell recalled, "fire just flew out at you."
Someone tugged a hose up a ladder and into the second floor.
Firefighters Jim Ballard was the first rescuer in behind the hose.
Immediately he found two cats. He crawled on hands and knees along the right wall of the house and made his way to the bedroom where the four girls slept, three in one bed and one in the other.
"I don't think they woke up," Ballard said. "I don't think they felt anything. I hope they didn't."
Ballard, Brazell, and Bob Fleming found the four children.
The firemen carried three of the bodies down a ladder. The fourth was taken out through the front door. All were declared dead at the scene. The bodies were taken to the county medical examiner's office, where autopsies will be performed.
Rena Hines lived with her paternal grandmother, Blanche Ferguson, on Willis Avenue. Lena Ferguson was the daughter of June and Paul Ferguson of 126 North Geddes St. The two girls were staying with their cousins overnight.
The parents of Massey girls, Patricia Hines and James Massey, escaped the blaze without injury. Police took statements from them at the Public Safety Building today before deciding the fire was accidental.
An investigator close to the case said the parents told police they were watching television in the living room. Hines told investigators Massey was already sleeping on a chair when she fell asleep at about 2:45 a.m.
The house was on fire when they awoke at about 5:05 a.m. Massey ran out of the house to call firefighters while Hines stayed, calling to the children, according to the statement they gave police. She said the flames and heat drove her back.
FIREFIGHTERS WERE called at 5:07 a.m. Flames were shooting from the second-story windows when they arrived.
Mass "said the television was on fire when he woke up," Deputy Chief Buck said. "The TV is still on and the TV is in the area where the fire started. His story coincides with the physical evidence."
Massey owns the home. City housing officials said no code violations were recorded against the home.
At least two of the children were dead when firefighters removed them from the house. Sheets covered their bodies. Rescuers worked unsuccessfully on the other two children as they were taken out of the house.
Paramedics from Eastern ambulance protected the bodies until county medical examiners arrived...
The fire was reported by a neighbor, Janet Baldwin of 208 Catawba St., who was wakened by Patricia Massey's Screams.
"The mother was outside the house banging on her door," Baldwin said. "She was calling for the kids to get out of the house. She kept yelling 'Paula, Paula.'"
BALDWIN, WHO lives at the corner of Catawba Street and Gebhardt Avenue, said the fire had already engulfed the house when she heard Massey's cries...
-Syracuse Herald Journal, Syracuse, NY, Friday, August 18, 1989, p. A1, A7
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