3 children engulfed in fumes – the candle lit mystery

On October 26^th a fire swallowed an apartment whole in the Bronx killing 3 children. We believe that the fire was started from a candle and spread uncontrollably until it was too late. They were using candles around the house because the electric company cut their connection to power just the day before. Cynthia Woods was one of the only who noticed and ran to the door where the fire started and tried to get it to open. Once she finally did, she could only hear the screams of the 3 boys and noticed that the fire was much larger than she anticipated. 90 minutes later, the fire was finally brought to a halt but sadly, the boys, the oldest of whom was 5 years old, were declared dead later that day.

To what some people are calling a tragedy, I am just calling it the cycle of life.  I know many can recall their childhood teachers saying something along the lines of, “Well did your homework grow legs and walk away?” I am asking, “Did a candle grow legs and tip over to start a fire?” I think people are forgetting the fact that this nobody but the children’s fault. Yes, I get it. It is devastating for a mother to bear such a great loss, but why am I ‘allowed’ to say this and why should I not get criticized for my opinion?

Just over a year ago, myself, and my school has suffered a loss of our own in a motor vehicle accident, losing one of our Hawks, a good person and a great friend of mine. I feel the greatest of empathy for the mother, but I learned to detach from that tragic experience and move on, and she should also.

Back to the matter at hand.

Why am I calling this a mystery? We know exactly what happened, it’s not hard to figure out. I am calling it a mystery because to many people this idea I’m demonstrating is something that is difficult or impossible for some to comprehend. It probably goes deeper than this, but the sad truth is that if you want to play the blame game, it is the mothers fault for not paying her bills, not the electricity company for shutting their power off. They were just doing their job. I am afraid that people are following their hearts instead of logic, and eventually this whole fiasco will end up with Tashika Turner, the mother, suing the electric company for something they didn’t do wrong.

For more on the story and the news report go to:

http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/26/us/bronx-deadly-fire/

Laura Ly and Tom Watkins