FIRE! a Christmas horror

[Duchess]

I'm thinking about this poor woman. I can't really wrap my mind around what she's going through right now. The horror of seeing that fire & knowing her parents and children were in it is just awful, I can't comprehend that kind of pain and I hope I never have to. It would blow my mind, no exaggeration.

[Lady Cop]

STAMFORD, Conn. – The fatal Connecticut fire that killed a fashion-marketing executive's three children and parents was possibly sparked by embers from disposed fireplace ashes, the New York Post has learned.

The ashes from the family's Christmas Eve yule log may have been still smoldering when they were left outside the 100-year-old, $1.7 million, Long Island Sound-view Victorian, a source said.

The wind may have blown the embers into the old, wooden building, sparking the Christmas morning blaze.

Mrs Badger and boyfriend Michael Borcina survived the horrific Christmas day fire at her Stamford, Connecticut home.
The couple had stayed up late wrapping gifts in front of the fireplace before loading the smoldering embers into a bucket WHY?? and going to bed, emergency workers told the New York Daily News. This was thought to have been the cause of the fire.
Mrs Badger's elderly father Lomer Johnson had played Santa Claus at Saks 5^th Ave. right up until Christmas Eve because it was 'all he ever wanted to be'.








house has been demolished.

[ramseycat]

I wonder how long it will be before it comes out she was having an affair with the contractor?

Those poor people. I can't even imagine the terror they experienced.

[Lady Cop]

the articles state he was her boyfriend, she was in process of divorce from husband. it wasn't a secret.

[pspence]

The Mayor just came out and said it was "an accidental fire, fireplace related". I can't imagine ever being able to live with something so horrible...but at least knowing it truly was an accident would maybe make it a tiny bit easier to cope with.

[Lady Cop]

The couple had stayed up late wrapping gifts in front of the fireplace before loading the smoldering embers into a bucket WHY??

i have always had a fireplace and NEVER loaded hot embers into a bucket. for what reason?? you just leave them in fireplace and be sure screen or glass door is closed and let it die. i do not understand this.

[ramseycat]

The couple had stayed up late wrapping gifts in front of the fireplace before loading the smoldering embers into a bucket WHY??

i have always had a fireplace and NEVER loaded hot embers into a bucket. for what reason?? you just leave them in fireplace and be sure screen or glass door is closed and let it die. i do not understand this.

That is why I am suspicious. I don't even want to believe that a mother would do that to her family but with all the shit we have seen lately, it wouldn't surprise me. Maybe it was just a stupid move. It just strikes me as weird that her and BF were the only ones that got out. If my kids were in there??? You wouldn't be able to keep me from trying to get to them.

[Lady Cop]

she climbed up that steep roof while the house was engulfed in flames trying to get to her kids. she simply couldn't, it was raging, an inferno.

[Duchess]

I heard on one of the news programs that people tried to lead her away from the house, she was sobbing, didn't want to leave, she said her whole world was inside that house. I can hardly stand to think about it yet I keep returning to this thread.

[ramseycat]

she climbed up that steep roof while the house was engulfed in flames trying to get to her kids. she simply couldn't, it was raging, an inferno.

Ok, I must have missed that part. I am so cynical these days that I find it hard to believe anyone. This is an unspeakable tragedy. I hope those people didn't suffer.

[Duchess]

I hope those people didn't suffer.

They did. They knew they were going to die. They were terrified & screaming for someone to help them.

[ramseycat]

I can't stand to hear anymore tragedy. It's just too much. And if I feel this way, what must the people that are actually going through it feeling? I can't even imagine. I really can't.

[Lady Cop]

the father, Matthew Badger lost his three young daughters





RIP
The Johnsons and their grandchildren (L-R) Lily, Grace, Sarah and Morgan - who was not in the house

[Midwest Spy]

This is a truly shitty story. I hate seeing those little faces knowing what they went through.

And her parents look so content being grandparents. Probably the happiest moments of their lives.

Why in hell did she feel the need to take embers out of the fireplace? I just don't get it. I've never done that, and I've never heard of anyone else doing it.

RIP little souls.

[JsMom]

:( brought me to tears...

[imsuchawildflower]

Absolutely horrific at any time of the year...but Christmas deaths are the worst.
A lady I know through some mutual friends, hosted her children and grandchildren for
Christmas. A daughter and 2 granddaughters left Sunday afternoon, heading home.
They didnt get 20-30 minutes away and were hit head on. All 3 died. The grand-
daughters were 4 months and 3 years (i think) old. There would never be a good
Christmas ever again.
God be with these families during such truly tragic times, when they should be smiling
laughing and enjoying every moment.

[Lady Cop]

Authorities said the house, which was being renovated, might not have had activated fire alarms and did not have an inspection certificate - a requirement for people to occupy a property.
Fire officials say the deadly blaze was started by fireplace embers placed in a bag in a mud room attached to the house or a trash enclosure by the mud room. MAKES NO SENSE!
Led by their mother's boyfriend from their third-floor bedroom to the second floor, the girls reportedly bolted back into the flames.Two of the girls were found on the second floor; their other sister died just feet from escape, trapped inside as her grandfather perished during his rescue attempt.

[Jezreel]

This is just absolutely tragic. I don't know how I would live if after this if I were the mother, how do you even begin to cope with something like this?
Knowing that it could have been prevented easily, I would blame myself for the rest of my life. I don't understand how anyone nowadays does not have working fire alarms in their house and especially with children you would make sure everything was safe, it's not like she didn't have the money. Lapse of judgment and common sense has led to this.
I keep thinking of those children and knowing they were trying to get out and how scared they must have been is eating me up.

R.I.P little angels and grandparents

[Lady Cop]

Matthew Badger with his daughters (left to right) Grace, Sarah and Lily, are pictured for the last time together in front of the Statue of Liberty, four days before the fire that claimed their lives



Stamford firefighters lay a wreath in a memorial area outside Madonna Badger's home



Madonna Badger's home as it is demolished

[NightOwl]

The couple had stayed up late wrapping gifts in front of the fireplace before loading the smoldering embers into a bucket WHY??

i have always had a fireplace and NEVER loaded hot embers into a bucket. for what reason?? you just leave them in fireplace and be sure screen or glass door is closed and let it die. i do not understand this.

That's right NEVER load up red hot embers in a bucket! There is no common sense that's what! The poor children the poor old couple it all could have been prevented! I also do not understand & I'm a bit angry about it what was this woman and man thinking?

What a dream to buy an old Victorian Home like that and have the money to restore it - and some stupid move and it's all gone and all those poor souls inside the bloody place! The playboy Contractor had to make sure it was structurally sound for them to live in the home, he should have had enough common sense to make sure smoke alarms were on every level of the old place and carbon monoxide detectors! I am very sorry for the loss of life here God have mercy on those left behind - I do not know how they will cope.