Firehouse.com

A man and a 2-month-old child died and two others were critically injured when a fire swept through a house near downtown Chillicothe last night.

Chillicothe firefighters found the body of James S. Beverly, 37, in the house at 164 W. 4th St., said Officer Bud Lytle of the Chillicothe Police Department.

Beverly apparently had escaped the burning house, but went back inside to try to help others, authorities said.

The unidentified infant died overnight after being flown to Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Lytle said.

A 19-month-old sibling of the dead infant was listed in critical condition at Children's Hospital this morning, the officer said.

The father of the two children, Nicholas Urita, 28, was in critical condition this morning at Ohio State University Medical Center in Columbus.

A resident of the house, George Beverly, and Chris Hiles, a passerby who entered the house in an attempt to rescue the victims, were treated for smoke inhalation and released, Lytle said.

Investigators continued this morning to examine the burned-out house in search of the fire's cause, said Shane Cartmill, spokesman for the state fire marshal's office.

The house was heated with a kerosene heater and wood stove, but it was too early to determine if they were a factor in the fire, which started about 8 p.m., Lytle said.

Fire crews did not hear any smoke detectors when they arrived and none have been found so far inside the remains of the two-story house, Cartmill said.

Robin Huff, 19, who lives next door, said she was watching television when she heard someone screaming, "My baby! My baby!" A man who had been in the house rescued one child from the fire, but another child was still inside. Firefighters got that child out.

"There were flames everywhere," Huff said.

Charlotte Sparks, Huff's grandmother, called the scene a nightmare. About 20 years ago, she said, she lost a daughter and two grandchildren in a fire.

McClatchy-Tribune News Service