July 31, 2003
PONTIAC - Weak city ordinances and lax  enforcement may have contributed to the deaths of a pregnant mother and her five children, fire officials said. Fire Marshal Dan Durham said inspectors from the Department of Community Development examined the home at 602 North Perry in May and noted in their report that there were no working smoke detectors.

"They gave them five months to fix the problem," Durham said. "We would have given them 10 days to fix it, and we would have installed battery-powered detectors immediately."

Firefighters could not do their own inspection of the home because current city ordinances give them authority over rental units designed for three or more families, Durham said. The Perry Street home was for a single family.
"We want a new ordinance that gives us jurisdiction over all rental property in Pontiac," Durham said. Georgette Johnson, spokeswoman for Mayor Willie Payne, said a new ordinance is needed to beef up inspections. "This is something that the mayor wants to put before the City Council," she said.

Johnson said the city was reviewing the records related to the home and the inspection. She acknowledged inspectors found "deficiencies," in the home, but said it was unclear whether the owner was ever given a certificate of occupancy, which is required before anyone can move in.

Oakland County deed records show Bobby Dansby bought the home in December 2000 for $31,000. Dansby did not return telephone messages left at his Pontiac office.

The review came after what Fire Chief Wilburt Skip McAdams said appears to be the deadliest fire in Pontiac history. Killed in the fire were:

  • "The mother was at least 5 months pregnant with twins," McAdams said. "This mother's instinct was to try to save her children."

    The children's father, Francisco Valiente, 26, was not home at the time of the fire. He had left to borrow a car to go to work the next day, said Debra Ehrmann, a friend of the family.

    "They came here for a better life for the family," Ehrmann said.

    Despite being new to the area, the family was already known in town. Dr. Barbara Raby, director of Bilingual Education for the City of Pontiac, knew 7-year-old Grecia, who spoke no English and was going to be in the first-grade in the fall. She was the only one of the children old enough for school.

    "She was very quiet, very sweet," Raby said. "If I gave her a sucker, she would give it to one of her brothers or sisters. (She was) the most sweet and darling child, adorable, very quiet, very receptive and responsive. She always responded with a smile."

    Raby visited the family at a relative's home.

    "The kids (the cousins) are walking around unbelieving," she said. "He (the father) went upstairs; he is incapable of handling it."

    Fire inspectors traced the fire to an extension cord power strip on the first floor. McAdams said the unit connected a window air conditioner to a wall socket. Air conditioners and other appliances draw too much electricity to use extension cords, he said.

    "The power strip was wedged between a couch and the wall," McAdams said. "It overheated and caught the couch on fire."

    Investigators said the fire smoldered for some time before it started to burn. The home has an open staircase to the second floor, where the family was sleeping.

    "Four of the children were found in their beds or on the floor near their beds," McAdams said. "I think they died in their sleep. That's what I'm hoping for and praying for."

    McAdams said the children's mother was found near a window on the second floor.

    "It appears she awoke and got her infant and tried to exit the window," McAdams said. "She stood up and took a breath of those super-heated gases and that knocked her down."

    Firefighters were alerted to the blaze by neighbors and police officers who saw flames.

    Crews from Fire Station No. 4 arrived at the home 21/2 minutes after the call came in, McAdams said. They entered the home as it burned and doused the flames in about a minute.

    McAdams said the mother and the infant suffered burns, but the other children appeared to have been killed by smoke inhalation.

    Rescue crews rushed four of the children to POH Medical Centers and attempted to revive them, but they never regained consciousness.

    "They never had a chance," McAdams said.

    McAdams said the fire was a terrible reminder of something firefighters have preached for years.

    "Smoke detectors save lives," he said. "There was not one working smoke detector in the house. We give them away free here."