Mother and child killed when fire destroys their Belleville home
A 25-year old woman and her three -year old son died in a fire Tuesday morning at a home on Memorial Drive in Belleville.
St. Clair County Coroner Calvin Dye Sr. identified the victims as Jimmie Flowers and his mother, Helena D. Peoples. Peoples was pronounced at 2:18 a.m. at Belleville Memorial Hospital. Flowers was pronounced dead at 2:25 a.m at Memorial Hospital, Dye said..
Belleville Fire Chief Tom Pour said a call came in to the fire department at 1:46 a.m. reporting the fire at 4109 Memorial Drive. “With people possibly trapped”, Pour said.
The first Belleville fire truck arrived at 1:50 a.m , with a second truck arriving near the same time. “The single story brick house was fully involved with flames coming out of the windows and doors,” Pour said.
“The homeowner told us people were inside. One crew knocked the fire down, while the other crew went inside to search. They found two victims in the house near the bedrooms and brought them outside,” Pour said.
“They were not conscious. We believe they are mother and son,” he said.
An ambulance rushed the child to the hospital right away, and a fire crew continued CPR at the scene on the mother until an ambulance arrived and took her to the hospital, Pour said.,
Belleville’s fire investigations unit, Pour said, has not found anything to suggest anything suspicious. He said the homeowner, who is the grandmother of the child, was home.
“She said smoke detectors woke her up,” Pour said. She tried to get the two victims out, but could not.
The investigators have not had a chance to talk to her, Pour said.
Asked where the fire started, Pour said, “We believe it started in the kitchen. But, we are still investigating . Right now, we have not found anything to say it is suspicious.”
This story was originally published March 17, 2020 at 10:07 AM.
