The Associated Press
BRENTWOOD, N.Y. — An 11-month-old infant and two adults died Friday when a fire trapped them in a second-floor bedroom of a Long Island home, authorities said.
Four others in the house escaped unharmed. One of them, a 14-year-old girl, said she was awakened early Friday by screaming from the top floor, said Lt. Jack Fitzpatrick, a Suffolk County police detective.
The girl woke her parents and was told to call 911. Her father, Matilde Agueta, 40, ran upstairs with a bucket of water, Fitzpatrick said.
“A few seconds later they hear a crash, which could have been the ceiling coming down, and no one is heard from again,” he said.
The dead were identified as Agueta, who owned the house; Maria Ventura, 31, who is believed to be his cousin; and her 11-month-old son, Kevin Jurado.
The girl, her mother, brother and a cousin got out safely.
Firefighters responding to the blaze were hampered by heavy flames, smoke and the house’s narrow staircase, Fitzpatrick said.
He said the fire appeared to have started where a furnace pipe touched the wooden walls.