Grim-faced Ray Rumming, left, and Bob Slatter leave a house in the White Oaks subdivision of London where an invalid woman and her son died in a fire Tuesday morning.
Invalid mother dies with son, 8, after reporting London home fire
Original article
An invalid London mother and her eight-year-old son died in their blazing home Tuesday morning, after the woman had reported a basement fire by telephone.
Maureen Elizabeth Heal, 31, was over-come by smoke about 8 a.m. along with her son Eric at 21 Tumbleweed Cres. in the White Oaks subdivision, said fire department officials.
Capt. Walter Butler said firefighters and Thames Valley Ambulance attendants tried to revive the woman and boy, but neither showed signs of life while they were being transported to Victoria Hospital where they were pronounced dead.
Insp. Ted Waite said the mother called the fire communications centre from a bedroom telephone to report a smoke detector sounding. Within a minute, she called back to notify the fire department of smoke.
“She wasn’t able to get out in time,” said Waite, adding he had been informed by the woman’s husband Michael Heal, 36, that his wife was an invalid who suffered from a disease similar to muscular dystrophy.
“It would take her about five minutes to cross a room,” said Waite. “If there’s a lesson to be learned from this tragedy, it’s that there’s no time to waste once the smoke detector goes.”
The mother was found on the floor near her bed and the son on the same bed.
Waite said the Heal boy had a history of starting small fires and fire officials once talked to him about the dangers of playing with fire. The boy ignited a blaze two months ago in the same spot in the recreation room where Tuesday’s fire originated, he added. The earlier fire self-extinguished, but Tuesday’s swept through the basement, shot flames out of the lower windows and poured dense black smoke through the house.
“The probable cause was playing with matches and candles,” said Waite.
He estimated damage to the house, which was insured, was about $30,000 to $35,000.
Michael Heal was at work in Stratford at the time of the fire, having left home about 6:30 a.m. Fire officials said the Heals had sold their house and were to move to Stratford after closing the deal in 10 days.
Source: London Free Press
