St. Louis Home Where 3 Children Died in Fire Had No Smoke Detector

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A St. Louis Fire Department spokesman says a home where a weekend fire killed three children did not have a smoke detector.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch http://bit.ly/1ldk8x9 reports that 6-year-old Aniya Calvin and 4-year-old Antonasia Williams died at the scene of the pre-dawn fire Sunday. Ten-month-old Sevon Hutcherson died later at a hospital.

Capt. Gregg Favre of the city’s fire department says there’s no reason to believe the fire was anything but an accident. He says there were no working smoke detectors in the home, even though the department doles them out for free.

One of the residents, 16-year-old Viances Hutcherson Jr., says the gas to the dwelling was off, and that the family was using an electric oven and space heaters to warm the home.