Boy, 1, Dies in Virginia Day Care Fire

Oct. 23, 2014
Chesterfield firefighters were told all the kids were out of the in-home day care that caught fire, but that was not the case. They found a 1-year-old boy in a bedroom 35-minutes after arriving on the scene.

A toddler in an in-home day care center has died as a result of injuries he sustained in a Chesterfield, Va., house fire.

According to local television station CBS 6 WTVR, firefighters were told that all the children were out of the building when they arrived at the scene of the Midlothian home on Valerie Court, but that was not the case.

Joseph Allen, 1, of Chesterfield, was in a bedroom during the fire and firefighters found the tot some 35 minutes after doing their initial sweep in a search and rescue, according to the television station. News reports indicate the boy was alive when he was pulled from the home but died the next day in the hospital from smoke inhalation injuries.

A Chesterfield Fire & EMS spokesman told reporters that firefighters would have done a more focused search if they had been told that a child still remained in the building. There were reportedly eight children in the building when the fire was reported at about noon on Tuesday and allegedly, the day care facility was not licensed.

Virginia requires any day care with more than five children to be licensed and to have a fire plan in place to operate legally.

The fire, determined to be accidental in nature, started in the garage. Natural gas was ruled out as a possible cause and the fire remains under investigation.

Criminal charges against the owner are possible.

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