STATter 911: Mother holds up morgue photos in church to make plea for smoke alarms

Monday, December 29, 2008

Mother holds up morgue photos in church to make plea for smoke alarms

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Michelle Dosso's children. Click above to watch video of a mother's plea.

From the AP:

The mother of three children killed in a fast-moving house fire held up their morgue photographs at a packed church and pleaded with the hundreds in attendance to outfit their homes with smoke detectors to prevent such tragedies.

"This is Zyhire, he was 1 year old," Michelle Dosso said Sunday as wails erupted from the pews of Christ International Baptist Church, just blocks from the home where four adults and three children died in the Friday night blaze.

"This is Ramere, he was 8. ... This is my baby girl, Mariam. She would have been 7 on the 27th," Dosso said from the church altar as she held the little girl's photo aloft. "I promised her a party and ... she's going to get it."

"Don't let them die in vain," she said, urging congregants to get smoke detectors. "Get it done."

The blaze was brought under control in around a half hour but heavy smoke claimed the lives of the seven victims. Six were found huddled together at one end of the room; a seventh was found near the basement's only exit to the outside. Investigators said the interior basement stairs had been removed.

There were no smoke alarms in the house, but alarms probably wouldn't have prevented the tragedy — survivor Harris Murphy, 54, said it started when a kerosene heater exploded as it was being refilled with fuel.

With his hands wrapped in bandages, Murphy told the church congregation that he urged his friend Henry Gbokoloi to have everyone run through the flames but his friend replied, "The firefighters will come and get us." The victims succumbed to smoke before firefighters could reach them.

In addition to Ramere, Mariam, and Zyhire, the other victims were Gbokoloi, 54, and siblings Vivian Teah, 26; Elliott Teah, 23, and Jennifer Teah, 17.

At least 10 members of the extended family were at home watching a movie when the fire broke out in the three-story brick duplex at around 10:45 p.m. Friday in a part of Southwest Philadelphia that is home to many of the city's 15,000 Liberian immigrants.

Showih Kamara, president of the Liberian Association of Pennsylvania, said the group was organizing committees to educate the community about home safety and provide assistance or information.

# posted by Dave Statter @ 12:39 AM

Comments:

Smoke Detector are inportant as brushing you teeth in the morning. They are as importtant as making sure that your clothes fit properly. I feel very bad to hear news like that, and it hits my heart very strongly. I am a Fireman in Baltimore, and we go in houses on medic assist and I usually ask do they have a Smoke Detector in the home....and the answer is usually "NO". Then I get a form for a free Smoke Detector, and ask them to fill it out. Many of us who do have Smoke Dectectors find it more pleasure to go to the store and buy junk food to appiese the moment, but will not buy a 9 volt battery to make sure that the Life-Line...the Smoke Detector is working properly. We give free Smoke Detectors in Baltimore, but I disagree with the City having us run up and down the street to make sure people who have free Smoke Detectors have fresh batteries in them. That should not be our responsibility. The City is complaininy about the budget, but look at all of the fuel we use chassing Smoke Detectors. Don't get me wrong, I like the program, but I feel if you get a free Smoke Detector, and we come and put it up for you......at least you can do is change the battery.

# posted by

Robert L. : December 29, 2008 2:51 PM