On Sunday, January 6, 2019, a violent house fire in Bloomington took the life of a 2-year-old boy. Despite the tragic death of such a young life, two adults and four children were able to escape the fire.

The start of the fire was unintentional, but the family was unaware of the situation due to no working smoke detectors in the house. There was evidence of the children playing with matches, but that has yet to be confirmed as the cause of the fire. The National Fire Protection Association says that every home needs working smoke detectors. To keep them up to maintenance, you should be replacing the batteries once every year and replacing the entire smoke detector every ten years. To be safe, always call a local fire department.

The family has ties to the Martinsville community where their feelings of devastation were shared. This community responded to this tragedy with open arms.

A GoFundMe page was set up for the funeral. Charlie’s Drive-in, located at 160 Morton Ave. in Martinsville, accepted household items and clothing donations. The Red Cross and Bloomington Fire Department donated blankets and toys.

The family received many donations and said they were grateful but had received more than enough. They requested that anyone who has items to donate but has not done so yet, to donate to another family who was facing similar hardships.