Horrific story
Moms View Message Board: General Discussion: Archive November 2004:
Horrific story
This is so incredibly sad.....
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1099998246192&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154
I'm sure that won't come up as a clickable link, so you'll have to cut and paste into your browser.
That is horrible...I don't know quite what to say..
That is just terrible
Family Dies in Fire
That is horrible and has happened in Milwaukee more times than I want to count, in homes without working smoke alarms!
Just thought I would cut and paste the article so others can read it without having to set up a registration with that newspaper. Tragic story...
Mother, 7 children perish in fire
Father away as blaze consumed his home
CURTIS RUSH
STAFF REPORTER THESTAR.COM
PELHAM - Six bodies have been pulled from the rubble of a rural Ontario farmhouse after a massive late-night inferno that killed a mother and her seven children.
The fire in West Lincoln, south of Grimsby, was perhaps the worst fire disaster in Ontario's recent history.
Efforts to recover the last two bodies may take until tomorrow because of the extensive damage, officials said this afternoon at a news conference.
"There was no possibility of rescue," a grim-faced Pelham fire Chief Scott McLeod told a news conference in this town 10 minutes west of Niagara Falls as he gave an eyewitness account of the devastation.
"(Fire) was venting out all the windows, all the doors, and it was through the roof. The building was unstable at that point. There was no possibility of even making an entry into the building."
McLeod said there were no words to describe the feelings of emergency crews upon learning the family was still inside the home.
"It hurts," he said, overcome with emotion.
Police identified the dead as Monika Woerlen, 39, and her children Susanna, 11, Elena, 10, Marcus, 8, Samuel, 7, Paul, 5, Nathan, 3, and Debora, 19 months.
Police also believe Monika Woerlen was pregnant. Her husband Marc, 41, was in Ottawa at the time of the fire, making arrangements for the family to relocate there after they had sold their two-storey, century-old farmhouse. Officials say a family member drove him back to horrific scene after getting the news.
A statement was read from Monika's family. She has 14 siblings.
"We are deeply shocked by the untimely and tragic death of our beloved wife, daughter and friend, Monika Rachel Woerlen, and her seven beautiful children. There are no words to describe our feelings, other than we are devastated by the loss. We will sorely miss them all. Monika displayed a cheerful and joyful attitude towards life. She was a true helper, one who often did all she could to lighten the load of those who she noticed were burdened down by the cares of life. . . .We love her husband Marc, who must now carry on and live to honour their memory."
The fire call came in at 11:05 last night and fire fighters were on the scene in less than 10 minutes to find the house fully engulfed, officials told reporters this afternoon. The 40 volunteer fire fighters who battled the blaze finally got it under control by 12:22 a.m. this morning, officials said.
In his 25 years of fire duty, Chief McLeod said, "I've never seen such a horrific fire as this one."
Neighbour Don Swayze said he knew something was wrong when he returned from an overnight hunting trip and saw the flashing lights of fire trucks.
"It's a tremendous loss," said Swayze's wife Patricia, who said they were stunned by the death of a family that was "very well-liked" by local residents.
The Swayzes said they often saw the young Woerlen children riding their tricycles around the property, which was surrounded by fields.
The remains of the farmhouse continued to smoulder today, the acrid smell of smoke still heavy in the air.
Family members gathered at a nearby home said to belong to Marc Woerlen's parents. Just hundreds of metres away, firefighters worked silently behind yellow police tape in the gruesome task of recovering bodies.
Flames had consumed much of the building and a good portion of the rubble was in the basement.
"There's quite a bit of devastation; they're going to have to dig it out by hand to recover evidence and any persons in the house," said Niagara police Const. Richard Geady.
"We have to take it apart, basically layer by layer."
Police chaplain John Ripley said he had met with distraught relatives.
"It's devastating for those people who are close to the family," Ripley said. "The challenge that they are going to have to face in the next little while of trying to deal with this is just beyond belief."
He said the close-knit family was drawing on their faith through the tears and anguish and the question of what happened.
Ripley said he was feeling a "profound sense of sadness."
The Ontario Fire Marshal's Office, the regional coroner and Niagara regional police are investigating the cause of the blaze. There was no word on whether there were working fire alarms in the house.
Foul play is not suspected.
The bodies have been taken to Hamilton General Hospital where post-mortem examinations will be conducted.
with files from Canadian Press
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