By Amanda Dolasinski
The Columbus Dispatch
NORTH SIDE, Ohio — Beulah Burris sat in the front room of her North Side home yesterday morning, wiping away tears with the edge of her white nightgown.
She had spent much of the night tossing and turning, replaying images of the fire across the street that took a woman’s life the night before.
The fire that killed Kathryne Hatcher, 41, was caused by a 4-year-old playing with a lighter, said Kelly McGuire, a Fire Division spokeswoman.
About 35 firefighters responded to 2000 E. 5th Ave. shortly before 11 p.m. Wednesday. The fire started at the rear of the first floor.
Hatcher, who neighbors said was visiting from out of town, was found dead inside on the second floor.
As many as nine people, whom neighbors described as relatives, made it out of the house safely. Two of them, a mother and her 7-month-old, were rescued from a porch roof. The baby was taken to Nationwide Children’s Hospital as a precaution but is expected to be fine, McGuire said.
The child who started the fire will be counseled by firefighters, McGuire said. “We want to educate them on how dangerous it is.”
Burris said her brother, Virgil Hammonds, helped rescue the woman and baby from the roof. He stood on top of a table on the ground and kept screaming “Give me the baby,” Burris said.
The woman appeared to be in shock but stretched out her arms and handed down the infant, she said.
Hammonds then put a ladder up to the woman so she could come down.
Neighbors gathered to watch firefighters battle the blaze, which was contained by 11:20 p.m. Burris said the smoke was so thick and black that she knew that anyone trapped in the house could not survive.
“It hurt me so badly, and I didn’t even know her,” she said. “I’ve never seen anything like that before.”
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