Fire officials have repeatedly downplayed the danger the closings pose. But the threat is real. Department officials saw firsthand the impact of closing fire companies when fires on consecutive days in December 1998 left three children dead. Yet, they continued the practice. Because it was a chilly morning with light snow flurries, the children at the home played inside.
Arson investigators believe one of the children lit a match.
The fire started near the top of the stairs, trapping Dontez on the second floor. His aunt escaped and Dontez's mom, Stephanie Earle, rescued her baby girl. But when she tried to save Dontez, the stairway was engulfed in flames. Within three minutes of being dispatched the first pumper truck was on the scene. As firefighters battled the blaze from the first floor, Stephanie Earle remembers screaming at them to rescue her child.