Fire Kills Five in Building Officials Tried to Condemn

Fire killed two women and three young children Wednesday in an apartment building that a fire marshal had been trying to have demolished because of safety problems.

There was only one fire escape for the second-floor apartment where the victims were found.

“It was a set of wooden stairs off the second floor and it was already engulfed in flames,” said Fire Marshal D.W. Lang.

Eight other people escaped from apartments in the basement and on the first floor after one of them was awakened by his dog.

Lang said firefighters had visited the building several times for things such as smoke from an overheated air conditioner. He said Wednesday’s fire may have been caused by a cigarette.