5 dead in Illinois ’inferno’ mobile home fire

GOODFIELD, Ill. — A central Illinois mobile home fire that neighbours called an “inferno” left three young children and two adults dead, authorities said.

The victims of the late Saturday blaze were identified as Ariel Wall, 1, Rose Alwood and Damien Wall, both 2, Jason Wall, 34, and Kathryn Murray, 69, Woodford County Coroner Tim Ruestman said Sunday. He pronounced them dead at 11:55 p.m. Saturday in a mobile home park in the village of Goodfield, about 20 miles (32 kilometres) southeast of Peoria. Two other people were treated and released at a Peoria hospital.

Neighbour AnnaMarie Siebert described the fire as an “inferno” and “fireball.”

“It was absolutely heart-wrenching, because you could hear the screams, and then, you didn’t hear all the screams anymore,” she said.

All seven victims were relatives and autopsies done Sunday in Bloomington found the five deaths were fire-related, Ruestman said.

The cause of the fire hasn’t been determined. State and local authorities are investigating.

Melted vinyl siding hung from the trailer and insulation and other debris littered the lawn Sunday at Timberline Mobile Home Park. The mobile home had a gaping hole in the roof and its remains were boarded with plywood and covered with blue tarpaulins.

Park manager Shawn Johnson said a tenant alerted him about the fire and he arrived shortly before emergency crews.

“The heat was just overwhelming,” he said. “There was nothing you could do at that point.”

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