Fire Investigators Seek Cause In Brooklyn Park Blaze
BROOKLYN PARK, Md. (WJZ)--New details tonight on that tragic fire at a Brooklyn Park home that left three people dead.
Derek Valcourt explains fire investigators say they now have a better idea where the fire started.
An early morning Tuesday fire ripped through a Brooklyn Park home where Rev. Samuel Sinnah lived with his wife and two sons. Mom Lettitia Sinnah made it out, but then ran back inside to find her 17-year-old son Sundima. Neighbor Christopher Rickman, 45, saw the flames and also ran in to help.
None of them made it out alive.
"Aunt Lettitia was such a nice woman," said her niece.
Family members today grieving as they plan funerals.
"We're devastated but we know that god.... it happened for a reason. We don't know why but we cant question god," said Patricia Abu, victim's niece.
"And I can only pray god will heal these two families that have had such a great loss," said Michele McGhee.
Firefighters tell WJZ there were working smoke detectors in the back half of the house, that's the new addition that had recently been added on. But there were no smoke detectors in the original older front part of the home and it's here where the fire started.
Investigators believe the blaze began in or near the bedroom of Rev. Samuel Sinnah's surviving 20-year-old son Joseph.
"He discovered the fire and attempted to extinguish the fire and which caused a delay in notifying 911," said Capt Russ Davies, Anne Arundel County Fire.
Firefighters say this devastation is an important reminder that no one should run into a burning building even to try to save a life.
"What has happened here is what may have been a tragedy of one fatality has turned into a tragic event of three fatalities," said Davies.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation, funeral arrangements are pending for the victims.
Multiple GoFund me page has been set up to try and raise money for both families involved in this tragedy.