FIRE! a Christmas horror

[NightOwl]

UK Daily Mail is reporting a similar story as NY Post how terribly sad to read this! this poor woman it breaks your heart.


UK Daily Mail 1/26/2012

'She is out of the hospital and somewhere safe. It’s just terrible, nobody could really hold up well under the circumstances'
Family friend

Construction workers, overseen by their mother's boyfriend, contractor Michael Borcina, are being investigated for possible criminal charges.
According to CBS 2, investigators have talked to several people involved in the work being done on the five-bedroom home, which was being overseen by Mr Borcina.

Mrs Badger was interviewed last week.
Officials want to determine whether the house had working smoke detectors. They say the fire was started by embers in a bag of discarded fireplace ashes.
Construction workers allegedly told investigators the alarms and extinguishers were removed and stored in the garage when painters began working on the house. Police would not confirm those reports.
The network also reports that Matthew Badger, the girls father and Mrs Badger's estranged husband, has hired a private investigation firm to look into the fire.
Michael Ciravolo, a retired NYPD investigator not associated with the investigation for Mr Badger, told the network: 'If they find something that in their estimation is criminality or negligence on the part of someone, they have a duty and I’m sure they will take it to the police.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...l#comments

[Lady Cop]

re: post 51, in England.

this was arson. murder.
the fire was set in the children's cupboard.

[NightOwl]

Thought Rita Papazian's article below was a very interesting read. It is such a heartbreaking story and I hope no one ever re-builds a home there. I hope Mrs. Badger will consider a Park with a few benches, flowers etc., in memory of her children, mother and father! Just my opinion.


Stamford Advocate

Tragedy raises questions
Updated 06:12 p.m., Wednesday, February 1, 2012


The 2010 real estate listing for 2267 Shippan Ave. Stamford is still on the Internet. While the house sold on Dec. 7 of that year, a visitor to the real estate site can see photographs of the 1895 Victorian home that overlooks Long Island Sound. The photo montage presents an inviting, comfortable and homey view of the home's interior and exterior. One can envision sipping iced tea or lemonade in summer on the veranda with its water views or romping on the lush green lawn. Who could imagine in its widest imagination that a little over a year later the family that moved into that home would experience one of the greatest tragedies a person could face -- the loss of children and parents to a fatal fast-moving fire.

Today, the Internet shows scores of photographs of the house charred and then demolished into a heap of gray debris.

According to recent news reports, Madonna Badger attempted suicide days after she and her estranged husband buried their three young girls, 7-year-old twins and their 9-year-old sister. Badger also lost her parents in the fire that ignited early Christmas morning. She survived along with her boyfriend, contractor Michael Borcina, head of Tiberias Construction, the company that was renovating the house.

While we have spent five years following the deaths of members of another Connecticut family, the Petits of Cheshire in which a wife and two daughters were murdered in a home invasion, we now follow the developing details in the wake of the house fire in Stamford in which investigators and the state's attorney's office are expected to release a report that should indicate whether or not charges will be filed in the fatal fire, allegedly started when Borcina placed embers from a fireplace fire in a container in or near a back mudroom.

Madonna Badger and her husband, Matthew, who were in the process of a divorce, had been living apart and media reports say Borcina was Madonna Badger's contractor and her boyfriend. It was indeed eerie to see his hand placed on her shoulder while she fell grieving onto the shoulder of her estranged husband as the distraught parents watched the caskets of their three children brought into a Fifth Avenue church for funeral services.

This tragedy leaves us with so many questions as we read reports of the fire. Of course, as someone who only knows the circumstances of the event from what one reads in the newspapers and online, still I wonder what Madonna Badger was really thinking in the way she allowed Borcina to be such an intimate part of her family when she was not legally divorced.

The fire gives all of us cause to pause and to take inventory, in all aspects in our own homes. Reports indicate there were no operable smoke alarms. Do our own houses have operable smoke alarms? Reports indicate that the fire may have been caused by the smoldering ash that was left in or near the house and then ignited the blaze. How do we dispose of our own ashes from a fire? How clean is our chimney?

What exactly were the sleeping arrangements? Reports indicate that the twins were sleeping on the third floor and Badger, her boyfriend, oldest daughter and her parents were sleeping on the second. If this is true, I question the sound judgment in having two 7-year-olds sleep on a separate floor from a parent.

On the Internet we can hear 911 calls from neighbors reporting the fire, but none from Badger or Borcina. Did one of them call 911? Was there a cellphone near the bed?

When I discuss my questions with one of my adult daughters, she responds that I am not one to comment about the circumstances within the Badger household. Like Badger, I got divorced when I was in my 40s and yes, I did not waste time in dating men. When you are in your early 40s, working full-time, raising young children and going through a divorce, it is not unusual to want to meet someone special.

So we as women can understand why she had a boyfriend in her home before she was legally divorced, but we women need to apply some of the perspective and thinking we use in our professional lives to our personal lives. I admit I carry a lot of guilt on my own shoulders. Fortunately, there have been no tragedies, but there were times I could have put my children and myself in harm's way.

Then there are the questions swirling around Borcina's track record as a contractor. Reports question whether he has a current license to work in Connecticut and whether he has met his financial obligations to former clients.

A big question is why the rush to demolish the house the day after the fire? Who made the decision? Who signed the paperwork? And what may have been covered up in the debris?

Rita Papazian is a freelance writer who has covered Norwalk extensively. She can be reached at [email protected].

http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/default/...916506.php


Found the Real Estate Photographs of the grand old House - here are a few the rest can be viewed at the link below.

http://www.trulia.com/homes/photos/Conne...02#item-16

[Middle Finger]

Like many other threads, I might read them but don't want to comment, or keep commenting. This sad story is one of them, although the child abuse cases really get me the most.

[Lady Cop]

completely expected. but i wait for criminal charges.

The father of the three young girls who were burned to death in a horrific house fire on Christmas day is planning on suing his ex-wife's boyfriend over the deadly blaze.

Matthew Badger, from New York, hired a private investigator to look into the cause of the Connecticut fire and has since filed papers in Stamford Probate Court seeking to administer his daughters' estates for a potential 'wrongful death' claim.

His lawyer Richard Emery told the New York Post that Mr Badger has no intention of suing his ex-wife Madonna Badger, who survived the blaze along with her boyfriend Michael Borcina.

[NightOwl]

From the UK Daily Mail a similar report & more from Richard Emery, Lawyer for Matthew Badger.


Mr Emery has put the blame on Michael Borcina. The papers claim he was the contractor in charge of the renovations at the Victorian home and is also said to have put smoldering ashes from the fireplace into a trash can, which fire officials say was the cause of the fire.
The lawyer told the Post: 'That fact is that Borcina was the contractor on the job. He was aware of the dangers, or should have been aware of dangers, that a civilian would have been unaware of.
'The fact that kids were living in this house was unbelievable...I don’t hold Madonna Badger responsible for that at all because I can’t imagine she would have understood the immediacy of the dangers.'
He also cited the actions of the Stamford Buildings Department to have the $1.7million home knocked down the day after the fire, saying it was an 'outrageous' act, after they claimed it was a public-safety hazard.
He said it 'raises all kinds of very serious suspicions that the house was destroyed...before anybody with expertise outside the city of Stamford was called in, [such as] insurance experts, State Police experts'.

[Midwest Spy]

From the UK Daily Mail a similar report & more from Richard Emery, Lawyer for Matthew Badger.


Mr Emery has put the blame on Michael Borcina. The papers claim he was the contractor in charge of the renovations at the Victorian home and is also said to have put smoldering ashes from the fireplace into a trash can, which fire officials say was the cause of the fire.
The lawyer told the Post: 'That fact is that Borcina was the contractor on the job. He was aware of the dangers, or should have been aware of dangers, that a civilian would have been unaware of.
'The fact that kids were living in this house was unbelievable...I don’t hold Madonna Badger responsible for that at all because I can’t imagine she would have understood the immediacy of the dangers.'
He also cited the actions of the Stamford Buildings Department to have the $1.7million home knocked down the day after the fire, saying it was an 'outrageous' act, after they claimed it was a public-safety hazard.
He said it 'raises all kinds of very serious suspicions that the house was destroyed...before anybody with expertise outside the city of Stamford was called in, [such as] insurance experts, State Police experts'.

The fact is, Borcina looked like a very arrogant prick at the funerals. He should not have been there, at least not front and center.

I hope he ends up losing every dime he has.

If he also serves some jail time, that'd be great too.

[Lady Cop]

another one. horrible.
cause not yet known.


A grandmother and four children were killed this morning when a fire swept through their 130-year-old house in South Plainfield, New Jersey.

Ann Jefferson, 62, and her grandchildren, 12-year-old Alizae, seven-year-old Tyler Davis, two-year-old Elijah Taylor, and a boy, Chris, believed to be age five or six, perished in the blaze.

Another baby girl, two-year-old Angel Taylor, was reportedly saved when her teenage brother ran out of the burning home carrying her in his arms.

Fifteen-year-old Shaquan Phillips apparently tried to return inside to rescue other family members, but was stopped by firefighters.
police and the prosecutor's office were investigating the cause of the fire.

[Lady Cop]

a hero. a daddy. RIP




A Special Forces soldier who recently returned from Afghanistan died while trying to rescue his two young daughters from their burning home, who also perished in the blaze.

Green beret Edward Cantrell, 36, from Cumberland County, North Carolina, and his wife Louise escaped from the early morning blaze by jumping from the home's second floor. Realizing their daughters Isabella, six, and Natalia, four, were trapped inside, Cantrell wrapped himself in a blanket and reentered the home, which is close to the military post near Fort Bragg.

Sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Tanna said: 'He never made it back out.'

Firefighters found their bodies inside the home, Ms Tanna said. The three died from smoke inhalation. The century-old home's timbers were likely very dry, causing a fast-moving blaze, Ms Tanna said. The cause of the fire was under investigation.

[Lady Cop]

for lack of a smoke detector battery. Jesus Christ

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – A West Virginia mayor says no smoke detector was working when a fire erupted inside a home, killing six children and two adults in what he says is the city's deadliest fire in six decades.

Charleston Mayor Danny Jones tells The Associated Press only one smoke detector was found in a cabinet, and it was not working. A woman and a baby were also hurt in the blaze early Sunday morning.

Bob Sharp, assistant chief for the Charleston Fire Department, says the injured child is on life support.

It was not immediately clear how the blaze started early Saturday morning at the two-story, wood-frame home near the city's airport.

WCHS-TV says fire officials believe all those who died lived in the home. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

[Donovan]

I'm just gonna leave this here. It's a collection of test videos showing how quickly fire spreads. The first segment may put you off Xmas trees forever.


As part of my job I have to take fire safety courses annually, and one of the things they impress on us all the time is that there is no time for heroics, last minute efforts to save belongings or quick dash-and-grab rescues. Some facts:

-Fire doubles in size every thirty seconds on average, depending on conditions of the room. Average time of total engulf: 2 to 5 minutes.

-average time for room to be filled to the floor with toxic black smoke, average home: 2 minutes.

-average temperature of same room at 2 minutes: 1200 degrees.

average annual deaths from fire (usa), civilian:2600. Average number of injuries: 13,500. That's actually down from what it [url=http://www.nfpa.org/itemDetail.asp?categoryID=953&itemID=23071&URL=Research%20&%20Reports/Fire%20^statistics/The%20U.S.%20fire%20problem&cookie_test=1]used to be[/url]

Basically, if you wait till a fire occurs to have a plan of escape, you're fucked, and so is your family. smoke inhalation will kill you in seconds, even if the first lungful of superheated air doesn't sear your lungs. That's why stories of guys like that SEAL who died trying to go in after his kids, or the mom who couldn't get back in the window, usually end one way.

I used to think I was pretty prepared for a fire. Now I'm paranoid as hell.
What they teach us as first-responders is a two-step process:
1) get everybody the fuck out, FAST. Get fire crews onscene ASAP.

2)did I stutter?

[Midwest Spy]

a hero. a daddy. RIP




A Special Forces soldier who recently returned from Afghanistan died while trying to rescue his two young daughters from their burning home, who also perished in the blaze.

Green beret Edward Cantrell, 36, from Cumberland County, North Carolina, and his wife Louise escaped from the early morning blaze by jumping from the home's second floor. Realizing their daughters Isabella, six, and Natalia, four, were trapped inside, Cantrell wrapped himself in a blanket and reentered the home, which is close to the military post near Fort Bragg.

Sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Tanna said: 'He never made it back out.'

Firefighters found their bodies inside the home, Ms Tanna said. The three died from smoke inhalation. The century-old home's timbers were likely very dry, causing a fast-moving blaze, Ms Tanna said. The cause of the fire was under investigation.

Don't know how I missed this story.

Seeing those little girls reminds of my little one so much. For a dad, there's nothing quite like a daughter. Never thought I'd say that after having 2 boys.

RIP, dad, you did right. You'd never be able to live with yourself if you hadn't tried to get in and save them.

What a horrible tragedy! :(

[Lady Cop]

AP
An upstate New York woman reportedly told investigators she accidentally started a fire that killed four of her children by burning pictures of her boyfriend inside her home, WUHF/Fox Rochester reports.

31-year-old Bobbie Kugler allegedly told Rochester authorities she lit pictures of her boyfriend on fire and threw them on top of a dresser full of clothes, which apparently started the deadly blaze on February 18.

Kugler was able to escape with her baby and several others who were inside the home. Her four children, Gage Reavey, Greg Kugler, Kandee Kugler and Kaiden Kugler, perished in the fire.

Kugler was arrested Friday and has pleaded not guilty to fourth-degree arson and four counts of second-degree manslaughter. She's being held in Monroe County Jail on $300,000 bail.

Kugler is due in Rochester City Court on Wednesday.

"They used to argue a lot, constantly. All the time in front of the kids in the house and you can hear it when the doors were closed...after the fire he sat there and told me 'I don't know why she's burning these clothes because I can go out and buy more clothes.'"

[Lady Cop]

Four unattended children died in a mobile home fire and their mother was charged on Sunday for allegedly leaving them alone, authorities said.

The children who died were ages two, five, seven and eight, according to Captain Doug Cain, a spokesman for Louisiana Department of Public Safety.

Their mother, 26-year-old Shaqueta McDade, was arrested and charged with four counts of negligent homicide.

The fire began just before midnight on Saturday in the town of Rayne, about 70 miles west of Baton Rouge in southern Louisiana, according to authorities.

McDade was being held at the Acadia County Jail.




before

[Cracker]

Who hit that?

You can't trust people without eyelashes. I learned that here.

[Lady Cop]

from the original topic of this thread, Matthew Badger speaks about his loss. and more photos of the girls here:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...-fire.html

[Lady Cop]

God, it's like an epidemic. :(
cause unknown at this time, the house did have wired smoke detectors.


NYPost
A horrific early-morning fire killed a Westchester police captain, his wife and teenage daughters yesterday — but the cop’s son, amazingly, was able to escape.

“There’s a fire in the house!” yelled Thomas Sullivan, 48 — a former Bronx cop — after the blaze broke out at around 2 a.m.

Thomas Sullivan Jr., 20, was awakened by the screams and managed to crawl down the stairs and out the garage door as the inferno spread and filled the house with smoke.

Moments later, the two-story yellow colonial collapsed — burying the elder Sullivan, his wife, Donna, 48, a nurse, and high-school students Meaghan, 18, and Mairead, 13.

Four dogs also died in the inferno, including Mairead’s two pets.

“My dogs Pepsie and Metsie,’’ she had posted on Facebook. “I love them so much.’’

Patti Maguire, 51, a neighbor on the quiet street in the Putnam County town of Carmel, said, “Within five minutes, I heard a crackling and then all of a sudden the house just came crashing down.”

The heat was so intense it melted the siding of two nearby homes and prevented firefighters from going inside.

“The whole house was engulfed in orange fire and smoke,” Maguire said. “I could feel the heat from where I was. It was horrible.”

It took three hours for the units from Carmel and three other Putnam towns to put out the stubborn fire, and investigators had to use cadaver-sniffing dogs to find the charred bodies.

The fire does not appear suspicious, officials said, though investigators were checking for accelerants. The house had eight smoke detectors, but it was unclear if they went off.

Thomas Jr. was treated for smoke inhalation at Danbury Hospital and released hours later. He was taken to his grandfather’s house in Dutchess County.

“It’s just a nightmare,” said Sullivan’s cousin, Patrick McHugh.

Sullivan worked as a cop for 26 years, moving to the Larchmont PD in 1992 after working as community-affairs officer in the NYPD’s 47^th Precinct.

“He had a fantastic personality. He could charm the birds out of the trees,” said McHugh, 55. “He had that Irish smile with a twinkle in the eye. He was unbelievable.”

He was remembered in Carmel as a dedicated leader who coached youth baseball and football.

“It’s a sad loss for those who knew him and also the community,” said Richard Fehn, 50, who grew up with Sullivan.

“They’re hard people to replace.”

Meaghan, a senior at Carmel HS, was scheduled to graduate next month and planned to become a nurse like her mom, said best friend Tammi Booker, 17.

“She liked to be around little kids and enjoy life. She was always a happy person,” said Booker, who wept outside the destroyed home as she released a balloon with words “Class of 2012.”









Dead in yesterday’s fire are dad Thomas Sullivan Sr. and (front, l-r) Meaghan, mom Donna and Mairead. Son Thomas Jr. got out.

[Lady Cop]

England...SIX kids die in fire that was set by gasoline poured in mail slot. Jesus!!
story:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...-time.html

[Lady Cop]

re post 78 ^

i knew i didn't like that prick.


The father and mother of six children killed in a house fire were this morning arrested on suspicion of their murder.

In a dramatic development, Mick Philpott, 55, and his wife Mairead, 31, are in custody being questioned by detectives about the horrific blaze.

Just two weeks ago the couple, both from Derby, wept uncontrollably at an emotional press conference as officers described how petrol had been poured through the family’s letterbox and set alight.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...z1wGe5592J

[Kip]

re post 78 ^

i knew i didn't like that prick.

I thought it was going to be the "lover."

I wonder if these idiots did it as a publicity stunt and it got out of control.