Boy killed, 2 sisters hospitalized after Middletown house fire
By Alana Cerrone
acerrone@abc6.com
@Alana_Cerrone
A seven-year-old boy was killed in a fire in Middletown overnight Monday.
His teenage sisters were pulled out of the home just in time.
It was just after midnight when Middletown Police Officer Brendan Behan drove by the home on East Main Road and noticed the smoke. He kicked in the front door and found 16-year-old Cheyenne Arroyo and her 14-year-old sister Leilaney on the first floor, and dragged them outside to safety.
That’s when emergency crews were told there told there was someone else inside.
Middletown Fire Chief Ron Doire describes the scene: "When police arrived there were flames coming out of the second floor, heavy smoke coming out of the second floor; there was no way anyone could’ve made it up to where the boy was located on the second floor without the assistance of gear."
When fire crews arrived, they found the boy in a second floor bedroom.
Witnesses tell ABC6 News the children’s father came back to the house just about the same time crews did; they said they saw him leaning over the boy while paramedics were trying to resuscitate him.
"Their efforts were truly heroic they saved two girls; it was very unfortunate they couldn’t save the little boy," said Chief Doire of the Middletown police and fire crews.
The fire marshal also commended the officer’s actions, saying he’s confident that if it had been five minutes later there would have been no survivors.
The fire marshal says this fire is still under investigation but right now appears accidental. It began in the second floor bathroom. 16-year-old Cheyanne Arroyo was released from the hospital; her sister, 14-year-old Leilaney, remains at Hasbro Children’s Hospital.
© WLNE-TV 2016
