By Robert J. Smith
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Copyright 2006 Little Rock Newspapers, Inc.
ANDERSON, Mo. — Investigators think a malfunction in a natural gas-fired furnace - not an arsonist - caused a fire that killed 10 people at an Anderson, Mo., group home, the city’s mayor and a police spokesman said Tuesday.
Kent Casey, a spokesman for the Missouri State Highway Patrol, said investigators will detail the cause of the fire at a news conference at 10 a.m. today at the Anderson Guest House, a long-term residential care facility in the southwest Missouri town of 1,800. Many of the home’s residents were mentally ill or mentally retarded.
“They expect to rule out arson, yes,” Casey said Tuesday. “I can’t say there won’t be a development that will change that overnight.” Sgt. Jason Clark of the Highway Patrol said authorities do not have any suspects or people of interest in connection with Monday’s fire, which destroyed the facility. He declined to answer other questions about investigators’ findings.
The eight identified victims all were Anderson residents, although many had relatives in other parts of Missouri and Arkansas. The names of two victims were not released Tuesday because relatives had not been located or notified, Casey said.
Those who died were Amy Brown, 37; Nathan Fisher, 52; Patricia Henson, 54; Brian Rudnick, 33; Don Schorzman, 57; Alta Lemons, 74; and Isiah Joyce, 25. The highway patrol did not provide an age for Glen Taff, the Anderson Guest House employee who died.
“So many records were destroyed in the fire,” Casey said. “We’re surprised we’ve been able to find relatives of the eight. It came together better than we thought it would.” McDonald County Coroner B.J. Goodwin said most victims were asleep when the fire broke out, noting they were found in their pajamas and were not wearing shoes. All died of smoke inhalation, he said.
Two dozen people were injured in the fire. Four remained in critical condition in intensive care units Tuesday at St. John’s Regional Health Center in Springfield, Mo., said Cora Scott, a hospital spokesman. A patient at Freeman West Hospital in Joplin, Mo., was upgraded Tuesday from serious condition to fair condition, hospital spokesman Emily Stanley said.
All other survivors were either in good or fair condition or had been treated and released.
Bob Corcoran, the town’s mayor for 25 years, said late Tuesday afternoon that fire investigators strongly believe a furnace at the north end of the cinder-block building caused the fire that started around 1 a.m. Monday.
“I talked to investigators this afternoon,” Corcoran said. “It appears to be the heating unit. I’m pretty certain. I hope that’s what it was, rather than an arson thing. I just don’t want an arson thing. I don’t want our little town to think somebody set a fire that killed people. I’d rather it be the heating unit.” Casey said a state fire marshal’s office investigator will talk about the cause at today’s news conference.
Nine of those who died were residents of the long-term care facility. The 10th victim was one of two employees at the facility. Casey said investigators from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the fire marshal’s office, the highway patrol and the Anderson Police Department met Tuesday morning. They found no connection between three fires in the past week in Anderson.
The others were a stolen vehicle that was burned in town last week and a mattress fire Saturday morning at the Anderson Guest House, Casey said. No one was injured in those fires.
The Anderson Guest House had fire alarms but no sprinklers.
Officials combed the gutted building Tuesday looking for clues to the fire’s cause, said Assistant State Fire Marshal Greg Carrell.
“Sometimes you get lucky and you get a piece of information that clears it up quickly,” Carrell said Tuesday morning. “Fire investigations usually don’t work that way. We don’t know what it is or what it isn’t. There are a ton of pieces to any puzzle.” The group home was operated by Joplin River of Life Ministries Inc. Robert Joseph Dupont, the ministries’ executive director, issued a statement Monday expressing sadness and saying all displaced residents were being cared for with help from other agencies.
Investigators interviewed Dupont and some of the survivors. A ministries employee said Dupont was unavailable Tuesday for further comment.
Dupont, 62, was convicted in 2003 of conspiracy to commit fraud for his part in a scheme to bilk the federal Medicare program by steering patients from group homes he owned in Missouri - including the one in Anderson - to handpicked doctors. Those doctors, in exchange, falsely certified that the patients needed home-health services from two companies Dupont owned or co-owned, according to federal records.
Dupont was sentenced to 21 months in jail, followed by three years of supervised release. Earlier this year, a federal judge rejected Dupont’s efforts to persuade the court to vacate that conviction.
Dupont is listed as an officer of the Joplin River of Life Ministries in the group’s 2002 articles of incorporation. As a convicted felon, he is not allowed under state law to hold such a position with a long-term care facility, said Nanci Gonder, a spokesman for the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.
Information in this report was contributed by The Associated Press.