Ahstabula County fire in Jefferson, Ohio leaves mother & her 2 young children dead. Victims identified as Joline Cooper and her kids, Atreus and Celeste Kershaw. Cause of blaze being investigated amid suspicions of heating source.
A tragic apartment fire in Ashtabula County, Ohio has left a 25-year-old mother and her two young children dead along with three others injured.
Notice of the young family’s deaths came after a former barn converted into apartments being engulfed in flames, Friday morning. The incident led to three individuals dying in the blaze along with three others injured according to responding Ashtabula County officials.
Converted barns on Jefferson, Ohio property engulfed in flames
Alternative heating source cited as catalyst for tragedy
Three others escaped, including a 1-year-old thrown from a window; all were treated at a hospital and released, WKYC reported.
The State Fire Marshal says the fire broke out around 7:30 a.m. on Friday in the 2100 block of Jefferson-Eagleville Road in Jefferson.
At the time of the blaze, the family had been using alternative heating sources amid a maintenance issue; propane tanks may have fueled the blaze’s rapid spread through the converted barn structure.
Crews from nearly one-dozen departments responded as mutual aid according to Cleveland19.
Stated Austinburg Township Fire Chief Bill Welms, ‘I imagine we had 10 (other fire departments) because we had to call for tankers and all that, for the water supply, because we don’t have hydrants. It was a very difficult fire, like I said, when we got on scene, it was a defensive fire. So we surrounded and drowned it as best we could, and everything collapsed.’
Authorities have yet to say what caused the blaze.
