By Jim Hook
Public Opinion (Chambersburg, Pennsylvania)
FORT LOUDON, Pa. — A flaming bedroom wall confronted a mother attempting to rescue her 19-month-old daughter on Tuesday.
Stacey Pine was unable to locate Kayla Jo Myers, who perished in the 7 a.m. fire at the Fort Loudon Inn.
“I guess the smoke was too intense, the fire and the heat,” Pennsylvania State Police Fire Marshal Jeffrey Sarver said.
Pine was in the second-floor living room with her friend when she heard 21/2-year-old Jasmine Myers screaming in the bedroom, Sarver said. The friend grabbed Jasmine, and Pine went after Kayla. She repeatedly entered the bedroom on her hands and knees, but could not find the toddler, who had been on the floor with Jasmine.
The woman was injured in the rescue attempts, Sarver said. She and Jasmine were treated at Chambersburg Hospital for minor injuries.
Kayla died accidentally of smoke inhalation, Franklin County Coroner Jeffrey Conner reported after an autopsy on Wednesday. Her funeral service will be at 2 p.m. Friday in First United Methodist Church of Mercersburg.
Both the woman and Matt Gordon, a fire marshal with Pennsylvania State Police, McConnellsburg, reported that the bedroom wall around a wall-mounted propane heater was in flames, Sarver said. Gordon, the first trooper at the fire, tried an early rescue.
The heater is the likely cause of the fire, Sarver said. Investigators are to return to the ruins.
Sarver said he has never encountered a similar heater. The older unit is fed from the outside by a propane line.
Dawn Gogin, owner of the inn, said she had recently invested in a new furnace and air conditioning system, but ducting had not been run to all the rooms.
The fire moved rapidly through the 200-year old inn and its numerous additions, Sarver said.
“Volunteer firefighters really put themselves at extreme risk trying to get to Kayla early in the fire,” Sarver said. “It was an unstable situation from the beginning.”
A northeast exterior wall collapsed around 10:45 a.m. as firefighters worked their way through the building. It was the location of the bedroom where Kayla was last seen.
Authorities called a “May Day” when the first-floor ceiling fell onto Donald Saum, a firefighter with Maugansville (Md.) Goodwill Volunteer Fire Company. Saum said someone pulled him out of the building.
Maugansville firefighter Brandon Hull also was knocked about. Hull said he started up the stairs to warn fellow firefighters on the second floor. Someone pulled on a hose, and knocked him off his feet. He hit his knees on the stairs, but walked out with other firefighters.
Both Saum and Hull were treated in the Chambersburg Hospital emergency room and released. They were back on duty at the Maugansville fire hall by 1 p.m.
Sarver aborted a recovery around the same time.
“We just weren’t able to get in the area,” Sarver said. “We were trying to get to a stable situation. It was very apparent it wasn’t going to get to that point. We had to go now. We didn’t want to leave her in there all night. We figured we had few opportunities.”
Sarver and Gordon went back into the building around 11:15 a.m. without protective garb.
“We just went in. We don’t recommend people do that, but we didn’t have a lot of time,” Sarver said. “Fortunately things worked out, and we were able to locate her almost immediately.”
The floor of the bedroom where they found Kayla’s body had escaped the falling wall.
Firefighters are likely to take it personally that they did not recover Kayla, Sarver said.
“It was a complete team effort,” Sarver said. “I can’t say enough about the volunteer firefighters. They’re amazing people to be around. They do everything they can to get you out of there. They deserve the credit.”
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