Friday, July 5, 2013

What kind of tragedy is this?

Kids with lighter started fatal fire
Felicia Krieg, Press-Republican - July 5, 2013

So, that happened.

The three people who died were "older people in need of assisted living". An earlier article made it sound like they were the only three people there for care, and also suggested that they were there for temporary "respite", not permanently. This article makes it sound like there were other residents besides the family.

The earlier articles also didn't mention the cause. It seems like my local paper is rushing to virtual print every time another detail emerges.

I have a sick feeling about it all, and not just for the simple reason that there was a fire and people died … people who couldn't help themselves ... due apparently to "kids" literally playing with fire. Maybe its just my biases kicking in, wanting there to be some larger lesson here about institutionalization, and quasi-institutionalizing in "group homes" and "respite homes" and the like. Of course I realize that some terrible things are just tragedies, with nothing to be learned at all.

The other thing that bothers me is that it seems like the Press-Republican isn't really sure what kind of story this is, either. Again, maybe it's just that I'm biased, but it seems like they are focusing more on the people who escaped, and on the "heroics" of the firefighters than on the fact that three people died ... the emphasis seems off to me.

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