Seven Children Killed in Ohio Fire

By JOHN SEEWER

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) - Joe Jaramillo climbed the staircase with smoke searing
his eyes and the cries of seven trapped children ringing in his ears. But he
couldn't get any closer.

``They were yelling 'Help us!' but I couldn't do anything. I had to come
back for air,'' he said.

The youngsters died after a fire broke out in a Toledo apartment Sunday
afternoon. All of the victims - six girls and one boy - were between six
months to 7 years old.

Toledo firefighters arrived at the scene about a minute after receiving an
emergency call, but met heavy flames on a staircase as they fought to reach
the victims, Chief Michael Bell said. They contained the fire quickly after
pulling the children out, he said.


Jaramillo ran into the two-story building and tried to get upstairs where
the children were trapped, as the mother of some of the children stood
outside screaming that her babies were inside. Jaramillo, 36, said he had
been visiting his daughter in the area.


No adults were injured, but five of the children died at area hospitals soon
after the blaze, authorities said. A sixth child died several hours later
and the seventh died early Monday morning, a spokeswoman for St. Vincent
Mercy Medical Center said.


Bell said no adults were in the building when firefighters arrived. It was
unclear if adults were inside when the blaze broke out. The cause of the
fire has not been determined.


Jaramillo said the father of one of the children had tried to go upstairs
with a fire extinguisher, ``but it didn't work.'' He and the father tried to
go up the stairs a second time, but the smoke and flames were too thick.


``Then it was just quiet,'' Jaramillo said.


Authorities withheld the names or relationships of the victims Sunday.
Neighbors said the woman who lived there with her children also had two
sisters who live in the apartment complex.


Relatives of the victims who gathered outside the hospital Sunday night
declined to comment.


Nearly all the fire damage was limited to one apartment and the roof of the
two-story brick apartment building, which contained five units, said
Battalion Chief Mark Klein.


Outside the complex, Halloween decorations remained in the front yard and
paper cutout bats were taped to the front window.


Clay Neal, 32, who lived in the apartment next to the victims', said the
children were always outside riding bikes and playing games. He arrived just
as paramedics were taking a baby out of the building on a stretcher.


``It just brings tears to my eyes because all of the kids didn't make it,''
Neal said.