Oklahoma City, Oklahoma House Fire Causes Four Fatalities

March 2, 2005
A fire at two-story home where a family of eight lived burned early Wednesday, killing four members of the family, including two teenage girls, a teenage boy and an elderly man, firefighters said.
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- A fire at two-story home where a family of eight lived burned early Wednesday, killing four members of the family, including two teenage girls, a teenage boy and an elderly man, firefighters said.

Noi Malilay, 14, and Felix Malilay, 86, were found inside the home and pronounced dead at the scene, according to Maj. Brian Stanaland.

Ple Malilay, 13, and Carol Ann Malilay, 14, were pulled from the burning home and taken to area hospitals where they died a short time later, Stanaland said.

Two others pulled from the house, Jerry Malilay, 35, and Ya Chamsonbath, 94, remain hospitalized. A third person, Deng Malilay, who escaped the home by using an outside staircase. Malilay, was rescued with no serious injuries.

A 15-year-old boy who also lived at the house was not at home, Stanaland said.

The fire was reported at 1:11 a.m. Stanaland said, and firefighters arrived within five minutes.

''When we pulled up on the scene, the whole downstairs floor was completely engulfed in fire.''

Two factors contributed to the victim's inability to escape the burning home.

''No smoke alarm was found anywhere in that house, that was problem number one,'' Stanaland said. ''Number two, just about every window had burglar bars, even upstairs.''

A bill to require newly installed burglar bars to have a mechanism that allows them to be opened from the inside was passed by the state House earlier this week. The bill was drafted after the deaths of six people in an Oklahoma City house fire in October.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation, but investigators have found no reason to believe the fire suspicious, Stanaland said.

He estimated the damage to the house at $75,000.

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