Tristan Guffey at a younger age
By Clifton French (cfrench@wsbt.com)
WBST
7:41 p.m. EDT, April 22, 2011
An Elkhart teenager has died after suffering severe burns in a fire that happened Thursday evening in the 1200 block of Rice Street.
Tristan Guffey, 15, was air-lifted to a hospital in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
The victim had a severe form of autism. According to fire investigators, he was playing with matches and lighter fluid when he caught himself and his home on fire.
Despite the efforts of some strangers who managed to put out the fire that was burning the teen, on Friday he passed away.
"I wish I could have actually got here sooner to help him out. Maybe I could have saved his life," said Drake Newton. "I really don't know him, but I care for him."
Drake Newton and his nephew Derek were driving by, becoming two of the first to help Tristan when he ran out of his house, his entire body covered in flames.
Drake and Derek ripped his burning clothes off, stopping the fire that was burning him.
Now that Drake knows the boy has died, he wishes he could have done more.
"I wish I could have taken that pain myself instead of him going through that."
The tragedy has hit the entire Elkhart neighborhood. People who knew Tristan remember a happy boy who loved Legos and Transformers.
"He was really nice, because he would always say hi to me and we didn't even know each other," said Hannah Duncan.
Duncan and her friend were walking around the neighborhood when they saw the fire, catching the chaos on their phones.
"We saw him and he was on a stretcher…and he was completely black. We saw his mom screaming…"
Now, for those who witnessed the fire, they are still shocked that the young boy is gone.
"I can't even put it in words right now."
Tristan and his guardian, who he called his mother, were the only two who lived in the house. WSBT talked to a friend of the family who told us Tristan's guardian is back from Kalamazoo, but she does not want to speak to the media right now.
12 year-old killed in overnight house fire
Posted: Apr 02, 2011 2:46 PM EDT
Updated: Apr 02, 2011 2:46 PM EDT
KGUN9
Brian Pryor
COCHISE COUNTY, Ariz. (KGUN9-TV) - Authorities are investigating a house fire that claimed the life of a 12 year-old boy overnight.
Carol Capas with the Sheriff's Office said that they responded to the trailer home in the 400 block of Purdy Lane after 12:30 a.m. Saturday morning.
Crews from the Naco, Bisbee, and San Jose Fire Department responded, as they arrived they observed two subjects outside the home. The father was seen trying to re-enter the burning home searching for his 12 year-old autistic son.
Once the fire was under control, firefighters searched the scene and found the 12 year-old partially under the bed deceased. The father told investigators that the son evacuated with the family but became confused and ran back into the burning home.
The American Red Cross is providing emergency aid to the family and provided them a place to stay. The Bisbee Fire Department also provided the family a care back with necessities and a pre-paid credit card.
Investigators have not determined the cause of the fire but are looking at the electrical system as a possible cause.
BISBEE, Ariz. (AP) — An autistic Arizona boy is said to have alerted his father about a fire in their mobile home early today, but then ran back inside after everyone had safely escaped. The father says his 12-year-old son appeared to be confused. Sheriff's officials say the home in Bizbee was fully engulfed by the time fire crews arrived.
Frank Morasco, age 12
NBC Philadelphia
Updated 6:10 AM EDT, Mon, Aug 7, 2010
Philadelphia police say a 12-year-old autistic boy was killed in a house fire in West Philadelphia Saturday.
Investigators say the fire broke out shortly before 7 p.m. at a home located at 137 South 55th Street. The young boy was discovered in a room on the second floor of the home, according to investigators.
Firefighters were able to rescue a woman from the second floor roof. The victim was taken to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania for treatment.
The fire was placed under control around 7:30 p.m. Two firefighters suffered minor injuries. One of the firefighters fell through the stairway while trying to save the little boy. Both were also transported to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania for treatment.
Officials say there were no working fire alarms in the home.
"We saw smoke alarms in the home. Unfortunately the smoke alarm that I found did not have the cover removed before you put it into service," Philadelphia Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers.
Four homes suffered damage, according to firefighters.
Investigators are still trying to determine the cause of the fire.
Fatal W. Philly fire sparks 'brownout' policy questions
By JAN RANSOM
Philadelphia Daily News
ransomj@phillynews.com 215-854-5218
..."A lot of things went wrong there, but the brownout isn't one of them," Ayers said. "You have to do the right thing for your family, and the key is to have an escape plan."
Neighbors said that a man who lived in the house was trying to get the 12-year-old out of the house but the boy pulled away and ran back in.
Ayers said that families should coach, and create escape plans for, people with mental and physical disabilities.
The boy's body was found on the second floor, fire officials said. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
"It was much, much too late for the boy to be saved," Ayers said.
Neighbors described Frank as a happy child who had moved onto the cozy block with his family last year.
"He was just getting used to us," said Rubye Weaver, 72, whose home also was damaged. "He was a happy young man."
Neighbors said that the boy didn't talk much and he loved playing ball on the porch or on the sidewalk with neighbors and the man who lived with him.
"He would catch the ball and kiss it," said Virginia DeShields, who lived three houses down. "He had a 'Toy Story' doll he would carry all the time. He was a very happy kid."
Fire union leaders said that the maintenance cited by Ayers normally would have been done during the afternoon, and if Engine 57 were not browned out the maintenance could have been completed before the start of the night shift.
"It's a tragedy what happened," said Local 22 trustee Mike Kane...
Eleven-year-old autistic boy dies in fire; grandmother charged for leaving him alone
BY Oren Yaniv, Erin Durkin and Jonathan Lemire
DAILY NEWS
Originally Published:Tuesday, February 16th 2010, 12:16 PM
Updated: Tuesday, February 16th 2010, 11:21 PM
An autistic 11-year-old boy who can barely speak died in a fire that he set Tuesday when his grandmother left him alone in her Brooklyn apartment, officials and witnesses said.
Tavon Turpin used matches or a lighter to ignite the blaze in a hallway closet while his grandmother, Melinda McLain, 59, had gone to a deli near the Coney Island apartment, police said.
The grandmother was hit with criminal charges for leaving home without Tavon, who recently sparked a small fire by cooking a cell phone in a microwave, police and FDNY sources said.
"The kid didn't have a chance," said neighbor Wigberto Figueroa, 34. "It's so sad."
Tavon, who lived with McLain in Coney Islands's Ocean Towers, set the blaze around noon. Firefighters tried to revive the boy after pulling him from the 15th-floor flat, but he couldn't be saved.
McLain returned home, saw Tavon's lifeless body and broke down, weeping.
She was arrested Tuesday night at Coney Island Hospital, where she was being treated for smoke inhalation and asthma. Cops charged her with reckless endangerment and endangering the welfare of a child, police sources said.
"She loved that boy," said neighbor Allen Pearsall, 48. "That little boy was this lady's life. None of us are perfect."
Four years ago in the same complex, a 7-year-old boy playing with a lighter sparked an inferno that killed three others. Ricardo (Rico) Clark, 16, and his two cousins, Jahgiria Sheffer, 10, and Jahnae O'Pharrow, 3, died after being trapped in their bedrooms.
Hours before Tuesday's fire, a 60-year-old grandmother died after surging flames trapped her inside her Queens apartment.
The blaze tore through the living room of Deborah Kelly's 17th-floor apartment in Lefrak City building just before 3 a.m., blocking the front door, witnesses said.The cause of that fire remains under investigation, but doesn't appear suspicious, FDNY officials said.
Neighbors said Kelly, a mother of two, had lived in the building for about 12 years. She shared her apartment with a daughter and a granddaughter. They weren't home at the time of the fire, neighbors said.
"She was a very lovely person," neighbor Loretta Henderson said. "They're a close family. It's sad."
oyaniv@nydailynews.com
