Uncle says he tried to save 7 from Ky. house fire
GRAY, Ky. — Authorities planned Monday to release more information about a weekend house fire in the Appalachian foothills of Kentucky that killed a man, his pregnant fiancee and five children — two of whom were friends who were spending the night.
The Knox County coroner and state police have not yet identified the victims, but family members said the five children killed ranged in age from 10 months to 3 years.
Shannon Disney, a sister-in-law of one of the victims, said a relative who drove past the house at 7:45 a.m. Saturday noticed nothing unusual, but another who lives nearby saw smoke coming from it around 9 a.m.
Disney described the couple as devoted to the children, with their lives organized around bedtime and bath time. She said the woman had just gotten an ultrasound, and the couple was excited to plan for the birth, though they didn’t know yet whether it was a boy or girl.
Relatives raced to the house — owned by the Disney family in an area affectionately known as “Disneyland” because so many members of the family lived in that part of town. Despite their rescue efforts, all seven people inside died.
Gino Cima, the uncle of the man who died, said he arrived within minutes of hearing of the Saturday morning blaze and tried to rescue the family when he came upon the adults’ bodies.
“When I opened the screen door, she was laying at the door with her head to the door. And I pulled her out,” he said, speaking softly. “And about 2 feet from her laying the other way was (my nephew). And I went in and got him and pulled him out. But they was done gone. There wasn’t nothing I could do.”
He said he then ran to the front of the house to try to save the children.
“And that’s when they had the five babies laying out in the front yard,” he said.
Relatives said the nephew’s fiancée was the mother of three of the children who died. The other two children were siblings and friends of the family, visiting for the night for a sleepover, the relatives said.
Officials said the cause of the fire was under investigation. Arson investigators were at the scene Saturday, but officials said no foul play was suspected. State police said Sunday that no more information on the fire would be released until Monday.
Laura Cima, Gino’s wife, said they owned the single-story, wood-frame house the couple was renting. She said the family had recently moved in and were busy painting and getting carpets cleaned. They shared a bedroom in the back of the house, and Laura Cima said the children were sleeping in a front room Saturday morning. She described an unused back bedroom where she and her husband saw flames pouring out of a window when they arrived Saturday.
Gray is a few miles outside Corbin, a city of about 7,000 in the foothills of Appalachia near the Daniel Boone National Forest and the borders of Tennessee and Virginia.
At the J&G market, a popular convenience store where the couple and the children frequently stopped to buy candy and milk, employee Amy Weddle had set out a jar on the counter asking for donations to help with funeral expenses.
“Everybody is very heartbroken over it. Everybody knows the Disney family,” Weddle said. “They’re always good to everybody.”