COLUMBUS, Ohio — According to data provided by the Columbus Division of Fire so far this year, 13 people in Columbus have died from house fires. That's the same number of people who died from house fires in 2021.
The latest deadly fire happened Thursday morning on Bolenhill Avenue in north Columbus just before 3 a.m., claiming the lives of a father and a daughter who neighbors said would have turned 19 years old on Thursday.
"She had down syndrome. She would always say hey bud, I'd say hey bud, every time she got off the school bus," said Martin Hine.
According to the fire department, of the eight fatal house fires this year, three of the fires had working smoke detectors, two fires had no smoke detectors, one fire had a smoke detector that wasn't working and the other fires were undetermined.
The fire department said it looked at its response time and found nothing out of the ordinary with Thursday's fire or other fatal fires this year.
According to the division of fire's run sheet from Thursday, the fire department got the call at 2:53 am. The first unit was on the scene six minutes later.
Neighbors said they saw smoke pouring out of the living room window which is where they believe it started.
For Hein, he said it's hard to imagine his neighbors are gone.
"These were great neighbors. I mean 12 years, they've been here," Hein said.
The cause of the fire is unknown.
Below is a breakdown of the number of fatal fires at Columbus homes since 2016 and how many residences did not have working smoke detectors
- 2022: Eight fatal fires, three had working smoke detectors
- 2021: Seven fatal fires, three had working smoke detectors
- 2020: Seven fatal fires, two had working smoke detectors
- 2019: Four fatal fires, three had working smoke detectors
- 2018: Five fatal fires, five had working smoke detectors but one was disabled and another failed
- 2017: Ten fatal fires, five had working smoke detectors
- 2016: Seven fatal fires, two had working smoke detectors, but one of them was disabled