UPI
INDIANAPOLIS — A fast-moving apartment-house fire that killed a young Indianapolis mother and her 2-year-old son was arson, fire investigators said.
Firefighters pulled Jessica Cole, 20, and Amerian Williams-Cole unconscious from the bathtub of their third-floor wood-frame apartment at Nottingham Village Apartments late Wednesday night, Fire Department spokeswoman Capt. Rita Burris said.
The tub was full of water as Cole and her son apparently tried to stay safe from the flames, Burris said.
The mother and child were carried down a 24-foot ladder to a waiting ambulance, but could not be revived as the ambulance raced to a hospital, Burris said.
The Indianapolis Star called the fire “a terrorizing blaze” with thick black smoke billowing from the front and rear windows.
Four other people — including a father, his pregnant wife and their daughter — leaped off third-story balconies but were only slightly injured because people on the ground broke their fall, Burris said.
Firefighters rescued four other people from balconies.
An injured firefighter was also taken to a hospital.
At one point during a natural gas valve broke when a firefighter tried to turn off gas service, causing a “significant” gas leak, Burris said.
All 50 residents in the building’s 24 apartments were evacuated, Burris said.
Investigators believe the fire, which started in a first-floor hallway and quickly spread along the open stairwell to the two upper floors, was intentionally set, Burris said.
Arsonists also attacked the complex in April and May, the Star said.
Former Indianapolis police officer Jesse Russell was charged with setting the April fire and others elsewhere.
Authorities didn’t say if they had any suspects in Wednesday’s blaze.
The fire caused an estimated $1 million in damage, Burris said.
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