By Manuel Gamiz Jr. Of The Morning Call
Morning Call
Copyright 2007 The Morning Call, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
ALLENTOWN, Pa. — On an office computer, Allentown Fire Capt. Bob Scheirer scans through 132 images of one of the city’s deadliest fires, looking for anything he or other investigators might have missed. He finds nothing.
Although authorities had determined the fire Friday was accidental, Scheirer and other high-ranking fire and police officials are well aware that people who knew the five victims still believe it was intentionally set.
Firefighters, tipped off by suspicious neighbors, had rushed into the house in the predawn darkness to battle the blaze and treated it as a crime scene. Scheirer says the evidence, overwhelmingly, proves it wasn’t.
The images, taken from the moment firefighters arrived and found smoke pouring out of 6241/2 N. Park St. to the moment the home was boarded up, back up the finding of five nationally certified arson investigators, including one from the state police, and a city bomb technician. They determined that an accidental electrical malfunction caused the fire.
“I know it’s hard to believe that five people died instantly and accidentally,” said Scheirer, head of Allentown’s fire marshals division. “But that’s what we have here, an accident — a tragic accident.”
The images show copper wiring, its plastic insulation melted off, strewn like spaghetti in front of the home and on the porch. Scheirer zooms in on images of melted Christmas decorations, wires stapled to a wooden window frame and burned-out power strips with up to six electric cords still attached.
Scheirer said Tuesday the fire started in the area of a homemade wooden shelf “which held a multitude of decorations,” spread to a wooden porch and continued burning onto neighboring porches.
Inside 6241/2 N. Park, the fire burned primarily in the living room, with flames rolling up to the roof and stopping short of the first-floor dining area and the staircase leading to the second and third floors, where people slept.
Outside, the fire was fueled by the porch, more Christmas decorations and a plastic recycling bin containing books, Scheirer said. “We actually had more fire in the front of the house than inside the house,” he said.
But inside, smoke filled the second and third floors where the five slept. The decorations and other items were made of synthetic materials that burn hot and fast and can fill a home with toxic smoke in minutes. “A couple of good breaths, and it’s enough to make you pass out,” Scheirer said.
Fire officials found two smoke detectors, but neither had batteries. A working smoke detector would sound within 15 to 30 seconds of a fire starting, providing more than enough time for an escape, he said.
Officials have not pinpointed the exact electrical problem that caused the fire. There could have been one source or many, such as old electrical cords, overloaded power strips and an outdated fuse system powering the house, Scheirer said.
Barbara Houx, 52; her daughter, Casundra Miller, 28; her daughter’s boyfriend, Randy Keding, 27, and ex-boyfriend, Shawn Sandt, 22; and Houx’s friend Allen Lindenmuth, 48, were pronounced dead of smoke inhalation that morning by Lehigh County Coroner Scott Grim.
Keding and Miller, who were on the third floor, tried to get out of bed but collapsed, the images show.
A family next door at 624 N. Park St. woke up after their smoke alarms began sounding and were rescued by firefighters.
The fire was called in to dispatchers at 6:34 a.m. and trucks were at the scene in two minutes. As firefighters worked, fire marshals spoke to neighbors and learned that people living in the home belonged to a Crime Watch group and had been threatened in the past.
In addition, Scheirer said, one person reported seeing someone throw a suitcase into the window as the fire began.
As a result, Scheirer said, “We treated this as a crime scene. If there was an arson, we were going to find it.”
But no signs of arson were found inside or outside, he said. Investigators found no suitcase or remnants of one, and no glass, bottles or wicks used with incendiary devices. Investigators used equipment that would determine immediately if an accelerant was used, and found none.
Still, neighbors, friends and family believe foul play caused the deaths.
On Saturday, rumors began swirling that a gasoline can cap with what appeared to be wires protruding from it was found on the porch. The images from the investigation show no gas cap, but rather several melted ornaments with protruding wires.
At a vigil on New Year’s Day, someone held up a handwritten sign asking, “Can someone help us find out the truth about the fire?”
Josue Amante, 30, of Allentown, has a 7-year-old son with Miller and agreed with the message. He said besides his relationship with her, he was close to Houx, whom he described as being “extremely safety-conscious.”
He said he doesn’t believe Houx kept the Christmas lights on all night, because she always tried to save money. Amante said Houx’s family told him that she always made sure all Christmas decorations were either turned off or unplugged before she went to bed.
“They have always put [Christmas decorations] out for a long time. Something would have happened years ago,” he insisted.
Scheirer said investigators interviewed several neighbors and witnesses, who all agreed the Christmas lights were on all night. Firefighters also found the cords to the decorations inside were connected.
Amante’s father, Walt, also said he believes the fire wasn’t accidental, but retaliation against Houx for her community service at Stevens Park, near her home. He said there might be a lack of evidence proving arson, but investigators should “dig deeper.” He wonders if something is being overlooked.
His son was convinced of foul play and said, “There is no doubt in my mind that this was intentionally set.
“Basically, me and the rest of the family are convinced that somebody did something,” Josue Amante said. “Somebody went through with one of their threats. I think that they set something on fire on the porch, and it got out of control.”
Those who knew Houx said someone once painted “snitch” on the curb in front of her home and broke windows on the house at least three times before the fire.
Allentown police said they received only one threat report, in September 2005, filed by Everett Bickford, who once lived in the home and worked with Houx at Stevens Park. In the report, Bickford said someone threatened to break a window at 6241/2 N. Park because he told them to leave the park at its closing.
Bickford said he’s had a “gut feeling” the fire could be arson, but after talking to fire officials he believes it probably wasn’t.
“The Fire Department knows what they are doing, and I still respect the Fire Department,” said Bickford, who moved out of the home in November. “But if they ever discover that this is arson, I will do whatever it takes to find [whoever was responsible.]”
What troubles Bickford most is knowing that a few dollars in batteries could have prevented the deaths. “I didn’t even know that there were no batteries in the smoke detectors,” he said. “If I would have known, I would have put them in myself.”
Dr. Robert Gordon, a clinical and forensic psychologist in Allentown, said such tragic loss of life happens and some people find it easier to blame others than deal with the loss for what it is, an accident that could happen to anyone.
“We are not in an idyllic, safe world,” he said. “Sometimes bad things happen just because.”