Woman killed, child rescued when fire burns home in Belleville historic neighborhood

A fire in a historic home near downtown Belleville claimed the life of one of its residents on Tuesday, the St. Clair County Coroner’s office confirmed.

Kirsten Tompkins, 25, was pronounced dead at the scene, Coroner Calvin Dye Sr. said.

The Belleville Fire Department received the emergency call to the 600 block of Rodenmeyer Street at about 6:45 a.m., said Chief J.P. Penet.

“Our crews arrived in about two minutes to find that the fire had already vented from the left side on the first floor and the second floor, so the house was fully involved,” Penet said. “Our crews made an aggressive interior attack based on the report that there were two victims trapped.”

Firefighters rescued a “young child” from a front room in the home and the child was taken to two adults who had managed to escape the fire on their own, Penet said.

The woman was found already deceased at the back of the house, Penet said.

Penet said the fire is under investigation.

Pam Howard, a neighbor, said she heard “some popping” noises early Tuesday morning.

“I went out the back door and it was fully engulfed in flames,” said Howard, whose home is on Adams Street and her backyard is adjacent to the backyard of the Rodenmeyer Street home that burned.

Howard said firefighters and police officers were already on the scene by the time she stepped out of her back door.

“It was a pretty bad fire, I mean pretty intense,” she said. “It was blazing, blazing.”

This story was originally published January 11, 2022 at 10:33 AM with the headline "Woman killed, child rescued when fire burns home in Belleville historic neighborhood."