2007 — Feb 6, Single-Family House Fire, Bardstown, KY — 10

–10  Barrouquere, Brett (AP). “Over 1,000 Mourn 10 Killed in Ky. Fire.” Wash. Post, 2-10-2007.

–10  Insurance Information Institute. Fire Facts and Statistics. The Ten Most Catastrophic…

–10  New York Times. “Early Morning House Fire Leaves 10 Dead in Kentucky.” 2-7-2007.

–10  NFPA. The U.S. Fire Problem. Home Fires with Ten or more Fatalities (1980-2007). 2008.

–10  NFPA Journal, September/October 2008, 57.

–10  Press Trust of India. “14 Killed, Including 10 Children…Two House Fires…” Feb 7, 2007.

 

Narrative Information

 

Feb 7, NYT: “Bardstown, Ky., Feb 6 – A fast-moving fire engulfed a house here early Tuesday [Feb 6], killing 10 people, including 6 children, and injuring 2 others, the authorities said. It was Kentucky’s deadliest fire since a blaze at the Beverly Hills Supper Club in Southgate killed 165 people in 1977, a senior deputy state fire marshal, Rob Goodwin, said.

 

“Seconds after the fire started about 4 a.m., screams from inside the one-story house roused neighbors who tried to save the occupants. Most of the victims were part of an extended family in this small city about 40 miles southeast of Louisville, neighbors and fire officials said….” (New York Times. “Early Morning House Fire Leaves 10 Dead in Kentucky.” 2-7-2007.)

 

Feb 7, PTI: “A fast-moving blaze has killed 10 people – six of them children – in Kentucky’s deadliest house fire in at least 30 years. One person was injured.  Neighbors said the survivor and another relative had to be prevented from running back into the flames in an attempt to rescue the screaming children….

 

“Investigators had not determined the cause of the Kentucky blaze that broke out shortly before 4 am.  “It may have been an explosion in the centre of the house. The fire flashed very quickly,” Fire Department spokesman Tom Isaac said on Tuesday.  Neighbor Bennie Stone said that he believed some of the people were staying there with relatives because their own furnace went out. The temperature fell to 11 degrees…during the night, the National Weather Service said.

 

“It was Kentucky’s deadliest fire in any type of building since the a blaze at the Beverly Hills Supper Club in northern Kentucky in 1977 killed 165 people, said Rob Goodwin, senior deputy state fire marshal. Before Tuesday’s fire, Kentucky already had 12 fire deaths so far this year, according to the state fire marshal’s office.  Stone said he broke windows to try and get to the children inside, but he was overcome by smoke and flames.  Most of the victims were dead by the time firefighters reached them, Nelson County Coroner Field Houghlin said.”  (Press Trust of India. “14 Killed, Including 10 Children…Two House Fires…” Feb 7, 2007)

 

Feb 10: “BARDSTOWN, Ky. – Nearly 1,500 people packed a high school gymnasium and a few hundred more huddled outside Saturday to mourn 10 members of an extended family who died in a house fire.  Seven caskets lined the floor of the gym at Bardstown High School because family members had arranged for some of the victims to be buried together, including a mother laid next to her two twin toddlers.” (Barrouquere (AP). Washington Post, Feb. 10, 2007)

 

NFPA: “This was a one-story single-family home of unprotected wood-frame construction with brick veneer….A single smoke alarm located in a hallway…did not operate.  It had been tested by the occupants some time prior to the fire and was reported not working…[The] fire of undetermined cause broke out in the living room. A survivor reported seeing fire in that area….

 

“Two factors impaired and delayed victims’ chances of survival. A nonworking smoke alarm allowed the fire conditions to reach untenable levels before the occupants were aware of the fire, and the adults had elevated blood alcohol that impaired their ability to get out.  Two children and an adult were in a front bedroom, three children were in a rear bedroom, an adult and a child were located in a den near the kitchen, one adult was located in the kitchen, and one was found at the rear door.  One other person escaped the fire.”  (NFPA Journal, Sep/Oct 2008, 57.)

 

Sources

 

Barrouquere, Brett (Associated Press). “Over 1,000 Mourn 10 Killed in Ky. Fire.” Washington Post, 2-10-2007. Accessed 8-22-2015 at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/10/AR2007021000362.html

 

Insurance Information Institute. Fire Facts and Statistics. “The Ten Most Catastrophic Multiple-Death Fires of 2007.” Accessed at: http://www.iii.org/media/facts/statsbyissue/fire/?table_sort_735794=5

 

National Fire Protection Association. The U.S. Fire Problem. “Home Fires with Ten or More Fatalities (1980-2007).” Quincy, MA:  NFPA, April 2008 update. Accessed at:  http://www.nfpa.org:80/itemDetail.asp?categoryID=953&itemID=30981&URL=Research%20&%20Reports/Fire%20statistics/The%20U.S.%20fire%20problem

 

National Fire Protection Association. “NFPA Report: U.S. Multiple-Death Fires for 2007.”  NFPA Journal, September/October 2008, pp. 57-63. Accessed at:  http://www.nfpa.org:80/publicJournalDetail.asp?categoryID=1674&itemID=40245&src=NFPAJournal&cookie_test=1

 

New York Times (Stacy Neitzel and Bob Driehaus). “Early Morning House Fire Leaves 10 Dead in Kentucky.” 2-7-2007. Accessed 5-26-2016 at: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/07/us/07fire.html?_r=0

 

Press Trust of India. “14 Killed, Including 10 Children, In Two House Fires in US.” 2-7-2007.  Accessed at:  http://www.nidm.gov.in/News%20in%20PDF/2007/Feb/07-02-07.pdf

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