Saturday, October 12, 2013

Mother and children perish in fire

Ruthann Krafve, left, and Natalya Flamme grieved on Saturday after a mother and her three children died in a blaze in Shirley, N.Y., on Friday night.

A Long Island woman and her three young children were killed in a fast-moving house fire in Suffolk County late Friday night, the police said.

The woman, Jennifer McCusker, 41, was apparently trying to rescue her 2-year-old twins from their cribs when she was overcome by smoke, according to the authorities.

The Suffolk County Police Department identified the children as Aidan Tarbell, 7; Ava Jane Mistretta, 2; and her twin brother, Brendan Mistretta.

The police said a neighbor called 911 at 10:15 p.m. after seeing smoke and flames coming from the home, on Hollywood Drive in Shirley, about 60 miles east of Manhattan.

Detective Lt. Jack Fitzpatrick, the commander of the Suffolk County Police Department’s homicide squad, said investigators believed the fire started in the home’s living room.

The fire was believed to be accidental, said Christopher J. Mehrman, the chief fire marshal for the town of Brookhaven.

Ms. McCusker was found in the bedroom where the twins slept in the rear of the house. Lieutenant Fitzpatrick said one of the twins had been removed from a crib, and it appeared as if Ms. McCusker were trying to remove the other twin.

Ms. McCusker and her children were pronounced dead at Brookhaven Memorial Hospital Medical Center in East Patchogue.

The Suffolk County medical examiner will perform autopsies to determine the causes of death.

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