Oct. 21--MEHLVILLE --A 7-year-old boy died after being pulled from the bedroom of his burning home in the Mehlville area early Monday morning. His grandmother broke her ankle after jumping out a second-floor window, and another child was injured.
St. Louis County are investigating.
Police have not released the boy's name or the names of the two people who survived.
St. Louis County Police Officer Randy Vaughn said police went to the home at 737 Hinder Drive at 12:19 a.m. Monday. Injured in the fire were a grandmother and a 13-year-old child, said Vaughn, adding that he didn't know the gender of the older child.
Firefighters found the 7-year-old boy in his bedroom and brought him out of the home, Vaughn said. The boy was rushed to St. Anthony's Medical Center, where he died. The 13-year-old made it out the front door. The grandmother broke her heal on her right foot after jumping from a second-story window, Vaughn said.
The grandmother and the other child were treated at a hospital and released. Police did not identify them.
No one from the Mehlville Fire Protection District would take about the fire, such as what they suspect caused it, where it began or any details on the rescue. Fire officials asked the St. Louis County bomb and arson detectives to investigate. It wasn't clear if fire officials considered the fire suspicious, or if they simply asked arson investigators to take over because the blaze resulted in a fatality.
A deputy chief with the fire district said it was a two-alarm fire. He refused to say why police were investigating or provide any details about the cause or circumstances of the fire. He referred all other questions to assistant fire chief Deputy Chief Dan LaFata, who was not available.
A woman who lives across the street, Gina Boland, said she was in her bedroom with the window shade up.
"I saw the flames coming toward our house," said Boland, 37. "There was this big boom, like wood shattering. A lot fire was coming toward me. I could feel the heat. There were flames everywhere."
Boland's sister called 911.
She said the boy and his sister lived with the grandmother. "They were a lot of fun to watch," Boland said. "He was always riding a bike. I thought he was a little angel."
This is the second fatal fire in the Mehlville district since late August.
On Aug. 27, a home on St. Simon Court caught fire, fatally injuring three people. The victims in that fire were Georgetta Gapsch, 79; her grandson, Terry "T.J." Gapsch, 38; and T.J. Gapsch's daugahter, 11-year-old Maci Gaspch.
One of the firefighters who helped carry the victims from the home on St. Simon Court was Georgetta Gapsch's son, Mehlville firefighter Mike Gapsch.
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