MIAMISBURG — UPDATE @ 9:45 p.m.
A family of six lost who everything in a Wednesday morning fire feel fortunate they all made it out alive.
David Gilbert, and his fiancee, Becky McGeorge, three daughters, ages 13, 7 and 5, and son, 3, all lived in the house in the 1100 block of East Pearl Street that was destroyed.
Lena Gilbert, David’s sister, said there’s no clue how the fire started. The 13-year-old girl left for school at 6:20 a.m., and everything was fine then, she said.
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“By 6:49 (a.m.) the house was fully engulfed,” Gilbert said.
McGeorge is improving, but is still in critical condition and using a ventilator at Miami Valley Hospital, Gilbert said.
“She is actually coming around. She is giving the doctors notes to call David,” she said. “Since we got good news on Becky, that’s all that matters.”
The Gilbert family lost two dogs in the fire and all the children’s Christmas presents. They had no renter’s insurance and their vehicles were only covered by liability insurance.
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“It’s devastating, Lena Gilbert said. “They just have nothing, really.”
Meanwhile, they are staying with her, she said.
“We are fortunate that they all made it out,” Gilbert said. “That’s all we can ask for. Everything else is replaceable. They are not.”
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FIRST REPORT
A woman was seriously injured early today in a Miamisburg house fire from which three other family members escaped.
Miami Valley Fire District Chief Matthew Queen said the victim, whose age was not provided, was taken by relatives to a hospital after the fire broke out in the 1100 block of East Pearl Street.
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Initial responders described it as a blaze with heat so intense it damaged neighboring property and prompted firefighters to take a defensive approach.
Queen characterized the victim’s unspecified injuries as “serious.” He declined to identify her or other family in the home at the time of the fire, but initial reports indicated it involved two adults and two children.
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“The structure sustained heavy damage and will likely be considered a total loss,” he stated in an email. “We do not have an estimate at this time, but the investigation is ongoing.”
Queen said this morning it was unknown whether smoke detectors were in the home.
“It is too early in the investigation to know that,” Queen said.
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It’s also too early to determine a cause of the blaze, said MVFD Fire Marshal Bob Pugh.
Crews responded just before 7 a.m. and fire crews on the scene said the roof "had already opened up." The intensity of the flames kept crews from entering the home for some time.
