Mobile home fire kills 2 children in Pierce County

Associated Press

ROY — The bodies of two children were found in a burned-out mobile home Thursday when hot spots subsided enough to allow firefighters access to the residence, officials said.

A 14-year-old girl and a 2 1/2-year-old boy died in the fire late Wednesday, said spokesman Ed Troyer with the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department.

Three others were injured, Troyer said.

Joshua Rochester, 24, was in serious condition at Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center with burns to 12 percent of his body — his face, neck, hands and upper chest, spokeswoman Susan Gregg-Hanson said. He also suffered smoke inhalation but was breathing on his own, she said.

The boy who died in the fire was his son. The 14-year-old was his niece — the daughter of his sister, who was jailed recently in a meth-lab case, Troyer said.

Rochester had two other children in the mobile home when the fire struck — an 18-month-old boy and a 13-year-old girl, both treated at St. Peter’s Hospital in Olympia and released, said spokeswoman Traci Blake.

Janet Rochester, 62, was treated for chest pains there and released, Blake said. Troyer said the woman was at the hospital to pick up the children and had not been in the fire.

The children’s names were not released, and Blake said the woman’s relationship to them was not immediately known.

The doublewide trailer with wood additions caught fire late Wednesday, Troyer said. There was no hydrant near the home, and firefighters had to use a tanker truck to put water on the fire, he said.

The cause of the fire was still under investigation Thursday afternoon by the fire marshal and arson detectives, Troyer said.

Possibilities included wiring and old stoves, he said. Investigators were also looking into neighbors’ claims that there had been meth-related activity at the home.

Copyright ©2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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