Five people were killed, including three children, and four others were hospitalized with injuries in a fire that destroyed an Akron home early Monday.
September 13, 2021 – By Sean McDonnell – Source Akron Beacon Journal
Five people — including two adults and three children — were killed in a house fire early Monday morning in Akron. Four others were taken to the hospital.
Akron firefighters responded to the blaze at about 12:50 a.m. Monday morning in the 1100 block of Linden Avenue in the city’s North Hill neighborhood.
Akron Fire Lt. Sierjie Lash said the home was engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived.
Three adults and a child also were taken to the hospital with injuries, and a neighbor who tried to help was treated at the scene, Lash said.
The Summit County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed that two adults and three children died in the blaze. Investigators were still working to confirm their identities Monday morning.
5 dead, 4 injured in Akron house fire. Neighbor & family members outside trying to get to the victims when fire crews arrived. pic.twitter.com/4j9B9xYyEm— staceyfreyfox8 (@staceyfreyfox8) September 13, 2021
Akron Public Schools spokesperson Mark Williamson told Beacon Journal partner News 5 Cleveland the children killed in the fire were students at Leggett elementary school, Jennings middle school and North High School.
Lash said neighbors believed the victims were all related to each other. She said firefighters were still investigating the cause of the fire, and the home is a total loss.
Cleveland television station Fox 8 (WJW) reported that emergency crews arrived to find relatives and neighbors trying to get people out of the burning house.
A neighbor told News 5 Cleveland she heard screaming and called 911.
“My bedroom window was open and I heard screaming and I looked out the window and saw the flames and I ran in the living room and dialed 911…yelled at my kids to get out of the house,” Jean Hudson, the neighbor, told News 5.
Lash said this is Akron’s deadliest house fire since May 2017 on Fultz Avenue, when a mother, father and five children died in what was later ruled an arson. Stanley Ford is currently standing trial in that case and is accused of starting that and another fatal house fire.
This is a developing story and will be updated as details become available.
©2021 www.beaconjournal.com. Visit beaconjournal.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.