1999 — Jan 1, Fire, Hatfield family home (from LP gas heater in garage), Ceylon, MN — 6

— 6  Daily News, Estherville, IA. “Ceylon blaze claims family, friend.” 1-2-1999, p. 1.

— 6  The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, IA. “Fire kills 6 in Minnesota.” 1-2-1999, p. 3A.

 

Narrative Information

 

Jan 2, Estherville Daily News: “Ceylon, Minn. — A New Year’s…blaze claimed the lives of six people, including three children, in this small, southern Minnesota community just over the border from Emmet County [Iowa].

 

“State Fire Marshal Tom Brace the blaze appeared to have started in an LP gas wall-mounted heater in the attached garage.

 

“Five of the victims were members of one family and the sixth was a family friend.

 

“About 25 firefighters from five volunteer departments, including Ceylon, Dunnell, Fairmont, Sherburn and Welcome, battled the blaze in extreme cold which was initially reported by a neighbor at about 6 a.m. It took about three hours to put the fire out.

 

“‘When I went to the window I could see the flames,’ said a woman who lived about a mile away and did • not want to be identified. Another neighbor across the street, Barb Cuppy – the mother of victim Jenny Hoffmeyer – spotted the flames in the house at 5:45 a.m. Friday when she woke up to make coffee. Cuppy called 911 and then woke up her fiancée, Joe Schroeder, to alert him to the fire. Schroeder ran across the street to the front door of the Hatfield residence in an attempt to rescue the residents. When he tried to open the door, Schroeder said he was blown back about 10 feet against a railing by the backdraft force. He could not enter the house because it was engulfed in flames and there was intense smoke. ‘I felt helpless because I couldn’t do anything to help them,’ Schroeder said….

 

“The Martin County Sheriff’s Department identified the dead as Kathleen A. Hatfield, 60; her son, Alfred Hatfield, 40; and his three children, 8-year-old son JaJa, 7-year-old daughter Brenna, and 3-year-old son Brandon. The sixth victim was Jenny Hoffmeyer, 22, a family friend who had been staying at the home.

 

“When firefighters arrived at the scene the garage was completely engulfed and flames had spread to the interior of the attached wood frame two story home, according to Wayne Harder, Ceylon Volunteer Fire Department Chief. They attempted to enter the home but were driven back by the intense flames. Harder said the home was equipped with a number of smoke detectors, both battery and electric powered. When the victims were recovered it appeared that several had attempted to escape the flames, including the grandmother who was found in the first-floor living room, Brandon, who was found in the kitchen and another child found near a window in an upstairs bedroom….

 

“Martin County authorities said they believed the six deaths were the most in a single fire in county history. It is believed the last fatal fire in this community of 450 people occurred about 50 years ago, Chief Harder said.”

 

Sources

 

Daily News, Estherville, IA. “Ceylon blaze claims family, friend.” 1-2-1999, pp. 1-2. Accessed 12-18-2015 at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=185094691&sterm

 

The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, IA. “Fire kills 6 in Minnesota.” 1-2-1999, p. 3A. Accessed 12-19-2015 at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=153682204&sterm=hatfield+fire