11 Family Members Killed in House Fire in Delaware

A kitchen fire spread thick smoke through a small rural home Wednesday, killing 11 family members, seven of them children.

Someone inside the burning house called 911 about 3 a.m. By the time firefighters arrived, heavy smoke was billowing from the eaves of the one-story home, said Patrick Miller of the Indian River Fire Company. The fire itself was small and was put out quickly, he said.

“This is about the worst I’ve ever seen in Delaware, or ever heard of,” said the Rev. David Paul, chief chaplain of the Delaware Volunteer Firemen’s Assn. and a firefighter for 47 years. “I think it’s the worst in the state’s history.”

William Wright, standing stunned across the road from the home, said the victims included his daughter, 28-year-old Jacquelin; her five children, ranging from an infant to a 9-year-old; Jacquelin’s mother, Eltama Shelton; and grandmother Evelyn Shelton.

Also killed were Jody Wright, 51, Eltama Shelton’s daughter and half-sister to Jacqueline Wright, and her two children, family members said.

Ronald Geary, Evelyn Shelton’s son-in-law, said the inside of the house was a mess when he visited around Christmas to bring gifts of clothes and a car seat. He said the family did not have much money.

It was the second large deadly fire in southern Delaware in two months. Five family members, including four children, were killed when their home burned Oct. 31 in Broadkill Beach.

“To get slammed like this twice in two months--everybody’s stunned in the area,” said Sussex County Council President Lynn Rogers, a fire chief.

The house is near Indian River Bay, about 45 miles southeast of Dover, the state capital, and sits across from a cornfield in Sussex County.

The victims were remembered in a moment of silence before Ruth Ann Minner was sworn in as governor Wednesday.

The cause of the blaze was under investigation, but the state fire marshal’s office and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms said they had found no evidence of foul play.