ASHTABULA COUNTY — Three people have died, including 2 children, and three people are injured after a former barn converted into apartments caught on fire in Ashtabula County.
The Austinburg Township Fire Chief, Bill Welms, said the fire broke out around 7:30 a.m. on Friday in the 2100 block of Jefferson-Eagleville Road, according to our CBS news affiliate, WOIO.
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24-year-old Joline Cooper was trapped on the second floor with her two kids, 3-year-old Atreus Kershaw, and 5-year-old Celeste Kershaw.
All three died in the fire, according to the family of the victims.
“Right now, I’m so broken. But I’ve got to be strong for my kids and grandkids,” said Marsha Cooper, mother of Joline Cooper.
Welms said they received mutual aid from 10 fire departments because they had no fire hydrants and needed the water supply.
“It was a very difficult fire, like I said, when we got on scene, it was a defensive fire. So we surrounded and drowned it as best we could, and everything collapsed,” said Welms.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
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