Early morning house fire on NYC’s Staten Island kills mother, 4 kids; no smoke detectors found

Early morning house fire in NYC kills mom, 4 kids

NEW YORK — A fast-moving fire raced through an apartment that had no smoke detectors before dawn Thursday, killing a woman and her four children, including a 2-year-old boy a firefighter pulled from the burning building.

The blaze started in the Staten Island apartment that Leisa Jones shared with her two sons and two daughters — aged 2 to 14 — and quickly moved through the two-story building’s attic space and roof, fire officials said. Tenants in three other apartments got out safely.

The cause was under investigation. City law requires landlords to install smoke detectors in all apartments and requires tenants to replace batteries. A message left for the building’s owner, Alber Morcos, wasn’t returned Thursday; a voice mail said he would not be reachable until the end of the month.

Nicholas Cotton, who lived in the other second-floor apartment with his girlfriend, Shannon Barback, said they were awakened by banging. He went to the window and saw people outside yelling, “Fire!”

He didn’t see anything until he opened his bathroom door and saw flames shooting through the wall from Jones’ apartment.

The 32-year-old Jones attended a beauty school during the day, neighbors said. Her children were identified as 2-year-old Jermaine, 7-year-old Melonie, 10-year-old Brittney and 14-year-old C.J.

“She came out here to try to make a better life for her kids,” said her friend Shaquawna Meaders, 25, who lived down the street and was at Jones’ apartment Wednesday night.

Jones came from Trinidad; the children’s father lived on the island of Jamaica.

“Everywhere she went, if they weren’t in school, the kids were always with her,” said Meaders, tears streaming down her face.

Criseena Lee, a downstairs neighbor who escaped unharmed, said Jones had lived in the building for about a year and “took care of her kids very well,” Lee said.

“The kids were sweet, very innocent,” she said. Lee’s children, ages 6 and 10, played with Jones’ kids, and they went to the pool together, she said.

Meaders described the last evening at her friend’s apartment as “a nice night,” with C.J. singing and making them all laugh.

The blaze was very heavy when firefighters arrived on the scene shortly after receiving the call at around 4:15 a.m. The fire in the Port Richmond section was declared under control about an hour and a half later.

Assistant Fire Chief Joseph Pfeifer said a firefighter was able to get Jermaine out of the burning apartment because the boy was near the front door. The other children were in the middle of the apartment and the mother was toward the rear, he said. Jermaine was pronounced dead at a hospital.

“I don’t know whether a smoke detector would have saved all of their lives, but there is a high degree of probability that a smoke detector would have warned the mother in time to get the kids out,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.

The city Department of Buildings had received two complaints about the building, issuing one violation in March 2007 because it did not have an application on file for an electrical panel, lights and switches on the first and second floors.

The other complaint, made in 2005, was that the building was an illegal conversion, but inspectors twice tried to gain access to the building and could not get inside.

Cotton’s apartment had two exits, but Jones’ had only one, he said.

The fire mostly destroyed Jones’ apartment and the roof; the facade of the first floor and the part of the second floor where Cotton’s apartment was located did not appear to have fire damage.

Associated Press Writer Sara Kugler Frazier contributed to this report.