Liquid oxygen may be cause of fire that killed four

Published: Saturday, February 10, 2001

HAMBURG, N.Y. {AP} -- A house fire that killed three children and their mother may have been started by the liquid oxygen that helped a 3-year-old victim breathe, investigators said.

Flames swept through the two floors with speed and intensity that stunned witnesses and stymied firefighters.

"I stuck my head out the door and it was like a blowtorch," said Bill Wiser, a neighbor who witnessed the fire Thursday from next door.

Two family members, father James Carney and his 18-year-old daughter Theresa, escaped. Carney's wife, Wuan, 43, was killed, along with their 3-year-old son, John Jr., and daughters Patricia, 16, and Diane, 14.

John Jr. had a medical condition and needed help breathing at night, authorities said.

"There was some liquid oxygen in the house for one of the children and we're looking into that," Assistant Police Chief Carmen Kesner said Friday.

"The father had made it out and he was pointing to the front window. You could see him telling the firefighters that's where his son was," said Kim Gagliardi, a neighbor in Hamburg, about 11 miles south of Buffalo.

The vinyl siding on Gagliardi's house, some 30 feet away, melted from the heat.

"It was just instantaneous," she said. "I couldn't even do anything."

Firefighters made several attempts to enter the house, but they were driven back by flames and smoke.

"Several members are a little shaken," Fire Chief Tom Partridge said. "They feel they're helpless because there was no way they could get in."

Firefighter Fred Tucker returned Friday, too shaken to go to work. He recalled the scene inside the house, including the youngest child's bed.

"That was the first thing I saw when I got in," he said. "To see the crib sitting there. It's an eerie feeling."