CLEVELAND (AP) -- Cleveland is preparing for one of the city's largest funerals in memory.
Thousands of mourners at a downtown auditorium on Monday walked past the caskets of eight victims who perished in Cleveland's deadliest house fire earlier this month. Their funeral was set for Tuesday.
Nine people died in the house fire May 21. The cause has not been determined, although it apparently was accidental. All the victims, the mother, children, cousins and friends of the extended Carter family, died of smoke inhalation.
A funeral already has been held for one of the victims, a family friend.
Public Hall at the Cleveland Convention Center was to become a funeral setting for the first time since former Mayor Carl B. Stokes died in 1997, said Cassandra Bledsoe of the Community Relations Department. The city's public transportation system was offering free rides to the site and public schools were closed.
A steady stream of 3,500 visitors filed past the white and pale-blue caskets on Monday. The hall opened at 10 a.m. and the viewing was extended an extra 15 minutes to 7:15 p.m. to accommodate a late rush of visitors.
''To see so many caskets lined up like that, and the children lying there, it just breaks your heart,'' said Lisa Doss, 40, who knew one of the victims. ''You know how you can be so hurt you can't cry? It's like that. It just leaves a gaping hole in you.''
The fire has drawn sympathy from all around Cleveland. Stuffed toys, balloons and flowers were piled waist-high outside the burned home every day last week. The victims' family said the gifts would be donated to underprivileged children.
Retired police detective James Brenza donated four burial plots at Whitehaven Memorial Park. The cemetery has donated the other five plots. Nine granite headstones were donated.
