Authorities say a fire that killed five children and their mother at a Michigan motel appears to have been an accident.
The Berrien County sheriff's office says experts found no evidence of an accelerant that would have started the deadly blaze early Saturday at the Cosmo Extended Stay Motel in Sodus Township. The precise cause still is under investigation, although early signs indicate the source of the fire was an electrical appliance.
The fire began in a first-floor room of the two-story motel, about 100 miles from Chicago.Kiarre Curtis, 26, and five of her children died in a room on the second floor, likely from smoke inhalation. The children have been identified as Marquise Thompson, 10; Gerome Randolph, 7; Samuel Curtis, 5; 4-year-old Savod Curtis; and 2-year-old Avery Curtis, according to WPBN.
Autopsies are planned Sunday. Curtis' husband, Samuel Curtis, and a 1-year-old child survived. The sheriff's office says investigators are also examining the motel's fire alarms and smoke detectors.'She was amazing,' a family friend, Stephanie Martensen, said of Kiarre Curtis.
'For growing up in foster care and having some hard trials in her life, she made the best of a bad situation. She worked hard and she did everything she could to make a better life for herself and her kids.' Fire officials said they were shaken at the sight of the dead bodies of five young children.
'I was devastated,' said Chief Deputy Robert Boyce. 'I was heartbroken.' Robert Payne, who has lived at the motel for 10 years, recalled his experience seeing his home destroyed. 'So I'm in the room, down from the fire,' he told WNDU. 'And it destroyed everything I own. But the fire just got too hot, too fast.'
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