After fatal fire, sister, neighbors distraught

January 30, 2018 Last Updated: January 30, 2018 04:25 PM Local News

Butler Fire Capt. Kevin McAfee walks away from the East Brady Street house in which a couple died during an early Monday morning fire.

Water from fire hoses continued to drip from two intact bird feeders in the yard of 329 E. Brady St. on Monday afternoon as the charred home of George Walters, 57, and Linda Walters, 69, was demolished.

The couple was killed in an overnight fire at the home they have owned since 2000.

Butler Fire Capt. Kevin McAfee of the Butler Fire Department said the body of Linda Walters, 69, was found in an upstairs bedroom and the remains of George Walters, 57, in the hallway nearby.

“Whether he was trying to escape the fire is unclear,” he said.

McAfee said the hoarding situation at the home made rescue and even entry into the burning home all but impossible.

He said the entire front of the house was burning when firefighters arrived on the scene in the early hours of Monday morning.

When a firefighter attempted to access the Insulbrick home from the rear, the back door would not open because of the stacks of furniture and other items piled against it, McAfee said.

When firefighters did finally gain entry, one almost fell through the floor. That's when fire officials made the call to suspend the rescue attempt and concentrate on preventing any damage to neighboring buildings.

The entire basement was stacked floor to ceiling with items the Walters' had collected, McAfee said, and the fire on the first floor fell through into the basement.

“The fire load was terrific,” McAfee said of the combustible materials in the home. “This should be a lesson to anyone who sees this. (Hoarding) makes it a very difficult situation (for firefighters).”

He estimated the damage amount at about $100,000 to the structure but could not estimate the damage to the home's contents.

The couple was known to use kerosene lamps for light, and George Walters' sister, Susan Jefferson, said they used space heaters in the winter.

Firefighters were still on the scene at 10 a.m. Monday, as was county Coroner William Young III.

Fire crews on extension ladders broke through the burnt wall on the east side of the home and removed the bodies.

The house was a huge pile of smoking rubble Monday afternoon as workers pulled down the walls with heavy machinery.Firefighters pulled smoking items out and flung them onto East Brady Street, which was closed between Franklin and Elm streets.The smoldering debris from the demolition equaled the height of the third story in the neighboring house.

McAfee said the VA Butler Healthcare Fire Department and Butler Township Volunteer Fire Department Station 3 responded to the scene at about 2 a.m., and Mercer Road Volunteer Fire Department stood at the ready to answer any calls in town while firefighters fought the blaze.He said Station 3's ladder truck was used to direct water into the second and third floors of the house.Residents of that stretch of East Brady Street are tiring of sirens and smoke, which they experienced in July when a fire tore through two homes just a few doors east and across the street from the Walters' homes.Those homes were demolished as well.Daymon Chinn of Franklin Street came down to the fire scene Monday morning to see what was going on.He said he has smoke alarms in his home, but is getting new ones because he's not sure of the existing units' age.“That was the third fire (in the city) in six months,” said Daymon Chinn of Franklin Street. “I'm a little worried.”He was impressed by the firefighters' efforts in all three fires, which includes the China Palace and 14 apartments on West Jefferson Street that were damaged or destroyed by flames on Jan. 10.“The firefighters did a heck of a job,” said Chinn. “They were in there with water, foam ... everything.”He said the Walters' were known as longtime residents of the neighborhood.“They didn't speak too much, but they were nice people,” Chinn said.City firefighters also fought a major fire last March in a Center Avenue apartment building that was formerly home to Hutch's Diner. Both buildings have since been torn down.Neither the county coroner nor the state police fire marshal returned calls from the Eagle on Monday.