Woman in critical condition after Ohio fire kills 5 others

Author: Associated Press
Published:
NathanWert/ MGN

CINCINNATI (AP) – A 62-year-old woman was in critical condition Wednesday, one day after fire ravaged her trailer home in southeastern Ohio and killed five people, including her baby great-grandson.

The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus didn’t release any other information about Georganna Jennings. Fairfield County authorities said Jennings was found early Tuesday suffering from burns outside the trailer where she lived with Don Asbell, 63, some 40 miles southeast of Columbus. Asbell was treated at a hospital and released.

The Fairfield County sheriff’s office says the five people who died were staying overnight in the trailer home because of bad weather. Among them was a 10-month-old boy.

“Just awful,” sheriff’s assistant Kelly Robberts said. “It was just all circumstances. If the storm hadn’t been coming, they wouldn’t have been there.”

The sheriff’s office said among those killed was Jennings’ daughter Pamela Jean Taylor, 43; her granddaughter 22-year-old Patricia MJ Taylor, and her great-grandson Cody Vanord, 10 months. Also killed were Thomas B. Taylor, 54, and Dylan A. Vanord, 22.

They were visiting and decided because of a winter storm to stay the night rather than drive back to McConnelsville, more than an hour’s drive away. Fairfield County was under a Level 1 snow emergency Tuesday, meaning drivers were advised to be very cautious because of hazardous conditions.

Authorities responding to a 4:17 a.m. fire report said weather slowed them as they rushed to the home in a hilly, rural area. A sheriff’s sergeant who was among the first to arrive put his jacket around Jennings and had her sit in his cruiser until an ambulance arrived, Sheriff Dave Phalen said.

“I am praying she makes it,” Jennings’ sister-in-law Evelyn Price told The Columbus Dispatch. “She has had it rough.”

Neighbors who called 911 reported hearing an explosion at the lot near the village of Sugar Grove. Authorities were still investigating the cause of the fire Phalen said gutted the home.

“We ask that the people of our community keep this family in their thoughts and prayers as they go through this tragic and devastating loss,” Phalen said in a statement.

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