Smoke Inhalation

SOUTH BEND - Two little girls are dead and investigators say it will likely be a few days before they know the cause of the fire that killed them at a home on Haney Ave. St. Joseph County Coroner Michael O'Connell confirmed the 4- and 6-year-old girls died from smoke and soot inhalation.  According to a police report, the 4-year-old's name was Me'Chielle Marshall and her older sister was Navaeh Marshall.  Firefighters also...

An overnight house fire in Kosciusko County sent several people to the hospital, including two police officers. Officers arrived at the home in Syracuse on North Harrison Street just before midnight and managed to wake up four people and move them out onto the roof. They were brought down on firefighter ladders. All had to be treated at a local hospital for smoke inhalation and released. The officers were also treated and released. Firefighters say there were no working smoke detectors in the home.

Two people were hospitalized for smoke inhalation after a fire in Mishawaka Saturday afternoon, Mishawaka fire department said. Dispatch received the call of a fire at the Parkview Terrace apartments in the 600 block of E. 13th street and the fire was out in 20 minutes, a dispatcher said. One person was able to walk out of the building and firefighters had to rescue the second from inside the building.

SOUTH BEND - Friends and family said their final goodbyes Saturday to two little South Bend girls killed last weekend in an apartment fire. Me'Chielle Marshall, 4, and 6-year-old Navaeh Marshall died from smoke inhalation last Sunday morning. Firefighters found the little girls on the second floor of the public housing apartment on Haney Avenue around 4:30 a.m. They were pronounced dead at Memorial Hospital. The girls' mother and 5-year-old sister were able to jump to safety.

One person had to be taken to the hospital after a business fire on Elkhart's east side. The first of calls went out a little after 2 p.m. Monday for a fire at Dexstar Wheel. A company spokesperson tells us a first shift manager suffered smoke inhalation while making sure everyone got out. They also said the fire started in a powder coat oven, but spread to roof insulation. The facility closed down for the rest of the day for cleaning. First shift is asked not to come in until 6 a.m. Tuesday.

SOUTH BEND - Fire broke out inside an old abandoned church building in South Bend on Saturday. WSBT was told one man was pulled out of the vacant building at the corner of St. Joseph and South Street. That's about a block south of the post office -- CLICK HERE FOR A MAP The man suffered from possible smoke inhalation and was being kept in the hospital for observation. When emergency crews arrived, there was quite a bit of smoke coming from the building.

A 4-year-old Elkhart girl is dead after her home caught on fire Saturday night. Two of her siblings survived, but are hospitalized. The fire happened around 11 p.m. at 313 W. Washington St., near downtown Elkhart. A teddy bear memorial now sits on the front porch where 4-year-old Alexis Anderson used to play. Her family is still trying to make sense of her death. "For whatever reason, her time was now. I can ask God why when I get there, I'll have a better understanding of why it happened.

SOUTH BEND — Investigators say a fire that killed an 80-year-old man Monday morning started because of electrical problems. Leonard Czeck was found dead inside his home at 450 S. Walnut St. early Monday morning. A neighbor reported seeing the house on fire and called 911, saying a man was trapped inside. Police officers who arrived on the scene kicked in the door to Czeck’s home, but were unable to enter because of the flames. Firefighters were able to extinguish the flames, but Czeck was pronounced dead at the scene.

FRENCH LICK, Ind. (AP) — Authorities say a 59-year-old man died in his wheelchair and 37 elderly and disabled residents were driven from their homes when a fire rushed through an apartment complex in southern Indiana. The fire broke out about 7:40 a.m. Wednesday at Camelot Court apartments in French Lick. The Courier-Journal of Louisville, Ky., says Bernard K. Jones was found in his wheelchair, dead of smoke inhalation. He lived on the third floor, one floor above the suspected source of the fire in an electrical wiring conduit.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Seven dogs have died in a fire at an Indianapolis home a resident says was used as a refuge for the animals. The Indianapolis Star and WTHR-TV report that 23-year-old Greg Papash was inside the two-story house at the time of Monday morning's blaze and was rescued from the roof by neighbors who found a ladder on the property. Firefighters had the 7 a.m. blaze under control in about 25 minutes. The dogs were found dead inside. A fire department spokeswoman says they likely died of smoke inhalation.

SOUTH BEND - A third person -- a 25-year-old man -- has died from injuries received over a month ago in a fire on South Bend's Haney Ave. that also took the lives of two young sisters. Me'Chielle Marshall, 4, and 6-year-old Navaeh Marshall died from smoke and soot inhalation in the February 10 fire.  Firefighters also pulled 25-year-old Cordell Mahone out of the apartment's living room where investigators said the fire started. He suffered burns and smoke inhalation and was transported to Memorial Hospital and later transferred to a burn center in Kalamazoo.

Two Benton Harbor public safety officers were injured -- one badly -- early Thursday morning in a house fire on Jennings Avenue, according to Public Safety Director Roger Lange. This happened in the 1000 block of Jennings around 12:33 a.m. Lt. Doug Bell was burned and had to be transported to a Kalamazoo burn ward. Another officer transported himself to the hospital for smoke inhalation.  We do not know what condition Bell is in at this time. Lange says he's stable.  A post on the North Berrien Fire & Rescue Department Facebook page said Bell was badly burned but his injuries are not life-threatening.

SOUTH BEND - Friends and family said their final goodbyes Saturday to two little South Bend girls killed last weekend in an apartment fire. Me'Chielle Marshall, 4, and 6-year-old Navaeh Marshall died from smoke inhalation last Sunday morning. Firefighters found the little girls on the second floor of the public housing apartment on Haney Avenue around 4:30 a.m. They were pronounced dead at Memorial Hospital. The girls' mother and 5-year-old sister were able to jump to safety.

SOUTH BEND - Two little girls are dead and investigators say it will likely be a few days before they know the cause of the fire that killed them at a home on Haney Ave. St. Joseph County Coroner Michael O'Connell confirmed the 4- and 6-year-old girls died from smoke and soot inhalation.  According to a police report, the 4-year-old's name was Me'Chielle Marshall and her older sister was Navaeh Marshall.  Firefighters also...

SOUTH BEND - Fire broke out inside an old abandoned church building in South Bend on Saturday. WSBT was told one man was pulled out of the vacant building at the corner of St. Joseph and South Street. That's about a block south of the post office -- CLICK HERE FOR A MAP The man suffered from possible smoke inhalation and was being kept in the hospital for observation. When emergency crews arrived, there was quite a bit of smoke coming from the building.

MULBERRY, Ind. (AP) - Authorities in north-central Indiana say a 7-year-old boy died in a house fire after firefighters were unable reach him in an upstairs bedroom. Madison Township firefighters were told when they arrived about 2 a.m. Saturday at the home in the Clinton County town of Mulberry that Noaha Vaughn-Linderer was still inside the burning structure. But the Journal & Courier reports ( http://on.jconline.com/TxGgQA ) firefighters couldn't reach the child's location due to the strength of the fire and the boy died.

Whisps of smoke and charred rubble were a much different scene for Donna Schinto Monday morning, compared to what she saw and heard at the Pottawattamie Resort in Coloma Township the night before. (In this case "Pottawattamie" is the correct spelling.) “I heard an explosion sound and I looked up and out my windows and I saw orange glows then [heard] another two explosion sounds,” she said.  And then the flames leapt higher than these trees, and these are old trees.” Schinto and others watched from several hundred yards away as firefighters battled howling winds and lack of hydrants in the area.  They even tried to pump water from the resort's pool because they couldn't haul it in fast enough.

WARSAW - Severe smoke inhalation and a few burns on his forehead. A 4-year-old is slowly recovering from a house fire in Warsaw. The home burst into flames shortly before 9 a.m. Wednesday. A mother and son were inside when the fire started to engulf the house in the 700 block of E. Clark St., just east of the downtown area. Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory Battalion Chief Rob Barker Wednesday evening said the cause of a devastating house fire in Warsaw this morning has now been narrowed down to the kitchen.

Fire investigators are still looking into what caused an apartment fire in Elkhart that caused two people to be flown to a burn center in Fort Wayne.  The fire started Tuesday morning around 6:45 at a building on the corner of W. Franklin Street and W Marion Street. Witnesses are calling this fire suspicious. CLICK HERE FOR A MAP WSBT spoke with the fire investigator. He told us he has yet to rule on the cause.  Witnesses say after they heard explosions and saw fire, they saw a man running from the building with something wrapped in a white cloth...and he threw a backpack behind a nearby dumpster before running from the area.  The building is a Laundromat and an apartment building. Firefighters believe the fire started in a downstairs apartment unit.  People who live upstairs and evacuated for the fire told WSBT they heard some loud explosions and pops.  When investigators went inside to investigate, they found propane torches and remnants of a gas can - the investigator told us he is not sure if those items contributed to the fire.  When police looked inside that backpack, they found a pellet gun.  Two people were taken to the hospital.

DOWAGIAC - The name of a Dowagiac woman killed late Tuesday night in a house fire has been released. Investigators say 71-year-old Lola Dodson was alone when the blaze struck her home in the 100 block of Hendryx St. around 11 p.m. Firefighters were able to pull Dodson out just moments after the fire started, but she died from smoke inhalation injuries at Borgess Lee Memorial Hospital. Authorities say Dodson was able to call for help through a medical alert monitoring service, which reported the fire to Cass County Central Dispatch.