5 killed in Warwick house fire

WARWICK, R.I. -- A house fire that officials said might have simmered undetected for hours Saturday killed five people, including a mother and her 7-month-old baby, whose body was carried out of the house in the arms of a firefighter.

Firefighters found the victims unconscious and severely burned on the second floor of a single-family house at 343 Buttonwoods Ave.

Warwick Fire Chief Kevin Sullivan said they were called to the house just before noon by a friend of the victims who was sleeping on the first floor after a late-night party at the home, he said.

"We just kept pulling people out one after the other," Sullivan said. "It was a very gruesome scene to see those people come out."

"I've never seen a fire with this many fatalities," he added.

Authorities said the man who called 911 went to bed after the party at around 3 a.m. and woke up at about 7 a.m., and nothing seemed amiss. But he was awakened again several hours later when a section of the first-floor ceiling collapsed, Sullivan said.

The man, whom authorities didn't identify, tried to run up to the second floor but was turned away by intense smoke and heat. He was later treated for smoke inhalation, and his condition was not considered life-threatening.

Neighbor Dianne Card, 59, went outside when she heard a stream of sirens coming down her street. She noticed firefighters pounding holes in the roof on the house next door, revealing thick clouds of smoke. The man who called 911 was standing on the edge of the property in his socks.

Card and another woman took the man inside their home, but he was too restless to stay. He went back outside and watched as firefighters removed his friends' bodies from the house. He called out the name of one victim, and then said he felt ill.

"His knees started to buckle," Card said. "We sort of grabbed him, and we took a hold of each side of him and brought him into our home."

She saw a firefighter rush from the home carrying in his arms the body of the baby. On the other side of the block, resident Jackie Riccio, 68, saw firefighters place wet cloths over three victims, including one who only took up half the stretcher.

"I knew it was a child," she said. "I started to cry."

The house's windows were blackened from soot or broken later Saturday, but the tidy, yellow home with white trim was still standing, surrounded in front by neatly trimmed bushes.

State Fire Marshal Jack Chartier said the fire likely started in a gap between the first and second floor, or on the surface of the second floor, and burned slowly.

"This may have been smoldering silently after these folks went to bed," Chartier said.

The victims included 21-year-old Amanda Villeneuve and her daughter, Annabelle, who both lived at the house, which was owned by James Weeden.

Villeneuve is the granddaughter of James and Susan Weeden and Annabelle is their great granddaughter .

Weeden is the warden at the state's maximum-security prison. He and his wife were away in Vermont at the time of the fire Saturday.

Three other victims were identified as Dan Janik, 20, of Woonsocket, Nicholas Jillson, 24, of North Smithfield and Tayla Lackey, 20, of Glocester. Janik is the father of 7-month-old Annabelle Janik.

Officials said they've pinpointed where the fire started and should be able to identify the cause on Sunday. They said they believe it was accidental.