Erie Fire Chief schedules news conference after fatal daycare fire
Bernice Crosby had tears rolling down her face as she left five stuffed animals outside the West 11th Street daycare where five children, all under the age of eight, perished in a fire. Four of the children from one mother, three whose dad is a volunteer firefighter.

ERIE, Pa. - Bernice Crosby had tears rolling down her face as she left five stuffed animals outside the West 11th Street daycare where five children, all under the age of eight, perished in a fire. Four of the children from one mother, three whose dad is a volunteer firefighter.
Crosby said, "My heart is just going out to all of them and definitely in my prayers. I want people to know these babies were loved."
Fire investigators from the Erie Fire Department, police fire investigators, and federal fire investigators collected more evidence to pinpoint the cause of the deadly blaze. Erie Fire Chief Guy Santone said, "It appears the fire may have been caused by an electrical malfunction. There were some extension chords that were underneath the carpet and couch, and the couch it appears at this time, was the ignition point."
The fire department will send it to an electrical engineer to take a closer look and determine if this was the cause.
According to Fire Chief Santone, a daycare has to follow the same codes as a rental, but the regulations are even more strict. The state gave the Harris Family Day Care an occupancy permit to open a daycare and then they passed it on to the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services to do the inspection.
Chief Santone says that there is a disconnect between the Department of Human Services and local authorities because health officials check for cleanliness and not smoke detectors.
"For some reason, they don't notify the local authorities that there is a daycare there. They handle the inspections," Chief Santone said. "The problem with that is that they only look for cleanliness, they don't look for smoke detectors, or at poor electrical wiring and things of that nature. I questioned why does it work that way, and I told them it is stopping today."
Santone also said that he wants to create an ordinance where every daycare within the city limits will be inspected once a year for things like smoke detectors, wiring, fire plans, and fire extinguishers.
Santone has scheduled a 2 p.m. news conference on Tuesday regarding weaknesses in Pennsylvania's certification of home daycares, and it's lack of notification process.
The Erie Chief Fire Investigator, John Widomski, said he feels things would have been different if there were working smoke detectors on each floor of the building.
"I believe the outcome would have been much different. According to code, you should have a working smoke detector on each floor, one in each bedroom and one outside the bedrooms. Obviously, they did not have them here. We found one smoke detector in the attic, and the door was closed, so we don't know if the smoke made it's way up there to that room," said Widomski.
Widomski also offered advice to avoid anything like this from happening to anyone in the future.
"Make sure your smoke detectors are working and know two ways out of any building, your home, your work, a restaurant, and so on. Review a fire plan with your children for those locations also and go through it with them. And close your doors before you go to sleep. If you close your door it gives you a little extra time," Widomski said.
The Lawrence Park Volunteer Fire Department Facebook page says donations for Luther Jone's family can be made at any Erie Northwest Bank branch.
Jones lost three children in the fire.
Donations can be mailed to Northwest Bank, 4270 E. Lake Rd. Erie, PA 16511. The account name for donations is the Lawrence Park Fire Department Luther Jones Family Fund.