Two Young Girls Killed in West Virginia Blaze

PARKERSBURG - Two young girls were killed Saturday afternoon when a Parkersburg duplex caught fire, said Parkersburg Fire Chief Eric Taylor.

"We don't have a lot of information," Taylor said. "We are still working on it, but we do know the fire was the double fatality of two children."

Taylor said the girls, ages 2 and 4, were sent to the state medical examiner's office in Charleston for autopsy.

A 3-year-old boy and an adult male who were also present in the residence at the corner of St. Marys Avenue and Covert Street were being treated Saturday at a local hospital for smoke inhalation and their conditions were not expected to be life-threatening, he said.

No names were being released Saturday night.

The fire occurred at 1335 St. Marys Ave., Taylor said.

"The home is a total loss and we are working hard to get answers," he said Saturday evening.

The fire was called in to the Wood County 911 Center by several neighbors at 2:59 p.m. Saturday with fear that there was possible entrapment in the second floor, a spokesman with the Wood County 911 Center said. At the time of the call, the fire was heavily involved, Taylor said.

Officials from the Ripley and Charleston offices of the West Virginia Fire Marshal are working with Parkersburg's chief fire inspector Tim Flinn and the Wood County Fire Investigation Team to figure out what happened and the cause of the fire, Taylor said.

The Parkersburg fire and police departments along with the Camden Clark and St. Joseph's ambulance services were on scene along with Allegheney Power Company, according to the 911 Center.

In a separate incident, the Parkersburg Fire Department responded to a kitchen fire on Quincy Hill on Saturday morning.

Firefighters were called out about 11:30 a.m. Saturday to the Agnes Flanigan residence at 637 Smithfield St. in Parkersburg. The firefighters found fire in the range hood and cabinets above the kitchen stove.

"The fire damage was contained to one wall of the kitchen. There was also a moderate amount of smoke throughout the house." said Taylor.

Damage estimates are between $5,000 and $10,000. The fire has been ruled accidental.

"The fire appears to have resulted from an electrical short in the range hood switch and spread up to the cabinets," he said.

The Mid-Ohio Valley Chapter of the Red Cross Disaster Services responded to assist the families of both fires on Saturday.

JOLENE CRAIG/THE NEWS AND SENTINEL

A house at the corner of St. Marys Avenue and Covert Street in Parkersburg is left in ruins following a Saturday afternoon fire that left two young children dead and another in a local hospital, officials said.

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