Baby Killed in Dayton House Fire

Dayton Fire Chief Jeff Payne said a wood-burning stove ignited sheets at a Kilmer Street home. The grandmother said she tried to douse the flames with water, but they overwhelmed her.

Michael Shorter, 4 months, was found dead in the back room of a duplex on Kilmer Street.

Firefighters found the remains of a 4-month-old boy in the rubble of a fire in this North Kilmer Street duplex on Thursday.

More than 40 firefighters spent around five hours carefully sifting through burned debris and rubble before finding a baby boy who died Thursday when a fast-moving blaze ripped through two homes.

The 4-month-old boy, Michael Shorter, was discovered in a back room of his family’s Kilmer Street duplex shortly after 5 p.m. His grandmother suffered smoke inhalation and was hospitalized.

Crews were in the slow process of recovering the baby’s body from heavy debris as dark set in Thursday night.

“It’s important not only for us, but more importantly for the family, that we found the victim,” Dayton Fire Chief Jeff Payne said. “If we think there is a person in a structure, dead or alive, we will bring them out. It’s what we do.”

Aurielle Shorter, the boy’s mother, had left the boy with his grandmother at the duplex the family shared at 150

N. Kilmer St. She said first responders held her back from the raging flames when she arrived on scene.

“I’m still trying to register this. I’m still waiting on them to pull my baby out,” Aurielle Shorter said outside the house Thursday afternoon. “I’m still waiting to hear something.”

Attempts to reach Aurielle Shorter after her son’s body was recovered were unsuccessful.

Payne said the family was using a wood burning stove to heat the home when sheets nearby caught fire. The grandmother told crews that she tried to put out the flames with water, but the fire became overwhelming, and she was unable to make it to where the child was, Payne said.

Investigators will examine the debris to confirm the cause, he said. The grandmother was treated at a nearby hospital for smoke inhalation.

The blaze also spread to a next door home at 154 N. Kilmer St. That home was occupied at the time of the blaze, but the occupants escaped without injury, Payne said.

A Dayton police officer who was in the vicinity on an unrelated call was the first on the scene and tried to enter the home, but he was driven back by the flames, Payne said. Fire crews who tried to search the home were also forced to exit because of the excessive heat and fire.

“It was a well-advanced fire before it was ever called in,” he said. “Crews were only in there for about four minutes before they had to back out.”

Payne said a crisis team will be available for firefighters who are coping with the death of the child.

Property records indicate that the owner of the duplex is Delores Hall, who could not be reached for comment.

The blaze came in the middle of an already deadly month of fires, according to data released by the Ohio State Fire Marshal’s Office. There have been 23 fire fatalities in Ohio so far this month, including Thursday’s. There were 15 fire fatalities in January 2014 and 18 in January 2013.

Factors can include anything from heating sources to the type of furniture in the home, according to Lindsey Burnworth, a spokeswoman for the Ohio State Fire Marshal’s Office.

“Fatal fires are typically more common in the winter,” Burnworth said. “People need to be careful of any alternative heating sources. Make sure you have working fire alarms, two ways out, and practice your fire safety plan. When it’s dark and you’re disoriented, that can make all the difference.”