Katelin M. Lahm was sleeping in the basement of 209 Walt Ave. when the fire started and was trapped in the home as it burned, according to press releases from Hall County Attorney Jerry Janulewicz.
Katelin was the daughter of Rich Lahm of St. Paul and Debbie (Frustaglio) Lahm of Doniphan. She was a kindergartner at Doniphan Elementary School who loved the outdoors, horseback riding, roller-skating, bike riding, fishing, dancing, singing and playing dress-up.
Her funeral is scheduled for Wednesday. Katelin's obituary appears on Page 11-A.
While the cause of the fire sounds unusual, Deputy State Fire Marshal Chuck Hoffman said a few fires in the state and hundreds nationwide are attributed to this cause every year.
In fact, at least one such fire has occurred in the area in the last 10 years. In December 1993, a Ravenna home was heavily damaged when clothing in a dresser caught fire.
"Considering the amount of laundry done and the number of these types of fires, the percentage is pretty small," he said.
People need to be careful not to mix different laundry products, especially those with chlorine-based bleaches, when washing clothes. They should also read and follow all manufacturers' instructions for the use of laundry products and be careful not to overload washing machines, Hoffman said. When there is too much product or machines are overloaded, the washer's rinse cycle doesn't get all of the detergent out.
The products can react with each other or with clothing heavily soiled with petroleum-based fluids, he said.
Items shouldn't be taken from dryers while they are still warm. Instead, people need to allow machines to complete their cooling cycles, Hoffman said. If clothing is taken from a dryer while still warm and piled in drawers, plastic bags or a closet, such as in this case, heat cannot escape and a fire could result, he said.
The Doniphan fire was traced back to clothing in a closet that burned from the middle of the pile out. Hoffman said clothing burned in fires started by other means usually burns on the outside and edges of a pile. The clothes in this case were burned as badly in the middle as on the outside, he said.
The press releases from Janulewicz also gave the following information:
Members of the Doniphan Fire Department, Doniphan Quick Response Team, paramedics from the Grand Island Fire Department and Hall County sheriff's deputies were detailed to the fire around 10:09 p.m. Sunday.
Katelin was taken by ambulance to St. Francis Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead at 10:50 p.m.
An autopsy was conducted in Omaha on Monday.
The child's mother and her grandfather were asleep in bedrooms on the ground floor of the home when the fire started. They escaped without injury after being alerted to the fire by smoke detectors.
Hoffman said the fire caused an estimated $75,000 in damage.
