Tonight Orange Walk town is still trying to come to grips with the reality that four persons, one father and his three kids, perished in a fire in a fire which destroyed their home.
35 year-old Alfredo Petillo and his 3 children: Kevawn Clarke, Jayda Petillo, and Mia Petillo, ages 10 to 14, never made it out of the house and post mortem examinations show that the children died from smoke inhalation, while Petillo's succumbed to a combination of burn injuries he suffered, as well as the smoke inhalation.
Apart from these 4 who died, 11 other members of the Petillo family are homeless because that fire destroyed 3 homes built close together in the family yard.
It's a very deep imprint of pain and unfathomable loss. Fire investigators say that it all started with a pot left on a stove - which someone forgot to turn off.
The pot melted, which the compromised the plastic butane hose, leading to the nearby 100 pound cylinder. Once the plastic tubing was compromised, the butane tank became a kind of flamethrower which quickly spread fire to the rest of the house.
Yesterday evening, the senior command of the Fire Department said that this quadruple fatality is an example of what not to do as a homeowner, if you want to keep your family safe in the event of a fire. Here are a few more excerpts from that press conference discussing their examination of the case, and their reconstruction of the scene of this deadly fire:
Orin Smith, Station Officer, National Fire Service
"The mother, who I had interviewed, explained that she was awakened by the husband, who told them that there is smoke in the house, that they need to get out. However, being where the fire started, it compromised, early in the fire, the only exit from the structure, the north exit, which on the rear side of the structure. The structure, indeed, has 2 exits. It has a south exit, here, but sometime before, a barber shop, this section, was added to the structure. As a result, this exit was boarded up to - I would believe - prevent occupants of the barber shop from having access to the structure. The family, mother, father, and the young child that survive, was occupying this room. The father had to literally tear away the barricade from there, to have the family exit the structure. When they exited the structure, they heard the screams from the daughter, coming from within the house. The father then made the conscious decision to return into the house, however, he never exited. Eventually, the butane tank, which was blowing fire across the stove, in the previous slide here, that compromised the exit early, fell down, and started blowing fire still, across the access way. That contributed to a fuel load to rapidly accelerate the fire growth. The father was eventually was trapped within the bathroom, and the children within their room. He and the children never made it out, as a result of the rapid development that took place of the fire there."
Ted Smith - Fire Chief, National Fire Service
"The tank was within the structure, and near the only exit. The investigation revealed that plastic tubing, transparent tubing was being used, and not copper tubing. This compromised, very early, in the fire, which created that torch that blocked the only exit out, hence the reason, as Mr. Smith explained, the father of the home had to work tremendously hard to move the barrier that was behind the previous door that they have blocked off. If copper tubing was being used, there is a strong possibility that the fire would not have developed so rapidly, as the copper tubing would have compromised easily, like the plastic tubing. Also, had 2 exits been readily available to that structure, we would not have had the result that we have now. We also want to bring to your attention the close proximity to the adjacent structures. It is so close, our investigation revealed there were no windows on that section of the building, only those small bathroom windows. So, because of the design and the construction, it also compromises the safety of the people who live within the structure. We also noted there were no smoke detectors, to alert individual occupants of the home that a fire had started. When the fire was still in its incipient stage, the occupants would have been alerted."
You'll also remember the back and forth on the Petillo family's assessment of the Fire Department's performance on Sunday morning, when the fire was raging, and there was still hope that Alfredo Petillo and the 3 children could be rescued from the burning building. The biggest complaint against the department is that they did not have enough water on site to successful put the fire out in one go. The family is demanding answers as to why the fire hydrant, right in front of their home, was turned off years ago. They insist that the firefighters would have been able to remain on site if they still had access to this hydrant, and so the press challenged the Fire officials to explain that one. Here's how that conversation went:
Ted Smith - Fire Chief, National Fire Service
"The truck went into the operation, 2 trucks. 1 had 450 gallons of water. The other had 200 gallons of water. After they exhausted their supply, they were shuttling water from the nearest, the hydrants that were in operation. The distance was approximately a little over a mile, so there was no possibility of relaying water from that particular area. So, they had to shuttle water. That took place, and eventually, good samaritans in the area brought in a water truck that had some water, that we could have utilized and assisted in extinguishing the fire."
Reporter
"Were there hydrants closer to the scene than that one?"
Ted Smith
"There was a hydrant that had gotten damaged nearby, but it's no longer functional."
Jules Vasquez
"How long would you say it took you all to find another source of water from the hydrant a mile away? How long would you say it took to get water back operating at the fire?"
Ted Smith
"My estimation with an ideal situation, all the variable working in our favor, 10 minutes time, around that time, anywhere between 8 to 10 minutes?"
Jules Vasquez
"If you had water. If you were in a perfect world, and they had a fire hydrant right in front of the house, or at the corner, would you have have been able to save anyone's life?"
Ted Smith
"No sir, not based on the officer in command on arrival what the found. There is no way we would have been able to save lives."
Jules Vasquez
"You couldn't enter the structure."
Ted Smith
"That's correct. The structure had already detached. The roof collapsed."
Reporter
"Are you sitting down with BWS to try and address those concerns as well? Just in the event that this presented a different scenario, and you could have saved lives, but the hydrant wasn't working, are you sitting down with BWS to address those hydrants around the country that aren't working, aren't functional?"
Ted Smith
"We are working on trying to buy hydrants. First of all, we have to buy the hydrants."
Of note is that one of Alfredo Petillo's brothers who is now homeless is a serving member of the police department. He's Corporal Wilfredo Petillo, and he is attached to Eastern Division Region 1. He, his wife, and his 2 children are among the 11 living family members who lost everything in Sunday morning's blaze. His police colleagues from Eastern Division Region 1 are planning a barbecue sale for this coming Thursday, at the Raccoon Street Police Station. The officers are asking the general public for their support.
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