As we are all DIS'ers, thought of passing on some sad news from Cruise board...

[Dan Murphy]

Very sad

 

[Cruisin]

Saw this on the cruise board.

Very, very sad indeed.

 

[legs22]

Yes, I saw this on the cruise board and it made me cry. Then I hugged my dd7.

 

[Tiggerlover91]

 

[RadioNate]

That is just terrible. I can't even imagine. Thanks for letting us know

 

[KatelynnsAuntie]

This is absolutely horrible.

God bless that family.

 

[Serena]

Oh no!

 

[arminnie]

I had just read one of her posts. Here's the article from the Pittsburgh paper. I just can't even begin to comprehend how awful their sufferering must be. Prayers for all.

Mother, daughter die in Ellwood City house fire
Monday, August 23, 2004

By M. Ferguson Tinsley, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A young mother and her daughter succumbed to smoke inhalation when they tried to escape an early morning blaze yesterday in their Ellwood City home.

Amanda Ritter, 26, and her daughter, Emma, 4, were found at the top of the stairs in their two-story frame home on Todd Avenue around 5:50 a.m., said Ellwood City Fire Chief Connie MacDonald.

Ritter's 3-month-old baby, Sophie, who was also found with her mother, is in serious condition at the Mercy Hospital burn unit, said MacDonald.

The chief said that the fire started in the vicinity of a computer workstation that was set up in a dining room in the rear of the first floor. He believes it was electrical and said that investigators have concluded it was accidental. Damage was estimated at $25,000, he said.

Lawrence County Deputy Coroner Samuel A. Teolis performed autopsies yesterday. Causes of death for both victims was acute smoke and fume inhalation, he said.

David Ritter, Amanda's husband and the children's father, was not at home when the flames erupted. MacDonald said he believed Ritter was at work at the time.

Michael Dazen, 48, a neighbor who lives behind the Ritters' house, said he heard glass breaking some time after 5:30 a.m.

"It was the two windows in the back," Dazen said. "They were all orange from the flames inside."

He said he told his girlfriend, Melanie Link, 34, to call 911. Then he raced to the front of the house and opened the front door but was overwhelmed by the smoke.

"The smoke was so thick, so dark and so black," Dazen said. He took one step into the house but could go no further.

"I started screaming for them to get up if they were asleep. I took one gulp of the smoke and it was stinging my lungs. I was afraid that if I'd gone in I wouldn't be able to get back out."

There was no response to his screams, he said. By then firefighters and police were swarming the street. They quickly put the fire out, but it was too late.

Next-door neighbor Kirk Zikeli, 48, said he saw the rescuers working on Amanda and Emma in the front yard. They performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, he said, but neither regained consciousness.

Zikeli said he had known Amanda Ritter since she was a school girl. He met her when he'd worked with her father, Michael Esposito, who lives on 7th Avenue in Ellwood City.

"But we sort of lost touch, and then the next thing I knew she moved in here," Zikeli said.

Zikeli said the Ritters had lived at the Todd Avenue address for about nine months. They were friendly neighbors, he said. The last time he'd seen Emma was the evening before the fire. He was doing yard work and glanced up to see her standing at a window upstairs waving at him.

A group of friends who had gathered to remember Amanda and Emma and to survey the damage stood at the back of the house, some with tears in their eyes. They looked toward the blackened, curling siding around the windows where the flames had broken out.

Amanda Ritter worked as a teller for ESB Bank in New Castle, according to her friends.

Marlena Woods, 26, said she had known Amanda since grade school. The two of them had stood as maids of honor for each other's weddings.

"She helped me when I had my son," said Woods. "She took me to all my doctor's appointments."

Woods' son is now 5 years old.

Woods' mother, Debra Yurkovich, 43, said the Ritter family is struggling with the losses.

"Everybody in town is devastated," Yurkovich said. "Everybody knows the Espositos. Emma was their pride and joy."

The Ritters had had a birthday party just two weeks ago for Emma. The yellow swing set that David Ritter had given his daughter for her birthday stood in the back yard, and on the picnic table he had built there was a plastic tablecloth with "Happy Birthday" on it and pink, yellow and blue balloons.

Dazen remembered the party. He said the back yard had been full of family and friends. He and Link and her 11-year-old son, Jimmy, had been looking forward to developing a relationship with the Ritters.

"We had just started breaking the ice," he said. "The little girl was so friendly. She would wave at us and say, 'Hi neighbor, hello neighbor' every time she saw us."

Arrangements are being handled by Samuel Teolis Funeral Home.

 

[poohandwendy]

This is so terribly sad...words cannot express. I will keep all involved in my thoughts and prayers.

 

[DisMN]

Saw this earlier today.....it really puts things in perspective doesn't it? Such sadness.
My prayers go out to the family during this devastating time.

 

[Pin Wizard]

How sad! Prayers for their family.

 

[UncleKyle]

So sad. I cried just reading the article.

 

[olena]

That's awful....

I hope Sophie recovers.

 

[Minniespal]

So sad.

 

[kaylajr]

 

[Nutsy]

How terribly sad I do hope little Sophie
recovers


So very very sad & such a terrible tragedy.......

 

[Robinrs]

This is so tragic.... that poor family must be devastated.

Dear God hold them in your arms,

Robinrs

 

[Disneyland_emily]

May the angels watch over and bless their family

-em

 

[Laura]

Wow, that is so horrible. I hope the baby will be okay. That poor family.

 

[mickey65]