Published: November 28, 2008 12:23 pm      

Fatal fire under investigation

Detective says arson not apparent

Even though rain fell all day, a plume of smoke rose from the ashes of a trailer on High Moore Road Monday following a grisly fire that claimed the life of one woman.

Jeanette Smith, 35, was unable to escape from her bedroom as the flames quickly swallowed her home. Her boyfriend, Raymond Smith, his relatives Henry and Susan Smith, and Jeanette Smith’s 14-year-old son all suffered burns in the fire.

Laurel County Sheriff’s Detective Charles Loomis, who is leading the Laurel County Major Crimes Task Force investigation, said the fire broke out around 4 a.m., with Raymond and Jeanette Smith asleep in the bedroom, and Henry and Susan Smith and the teenager sleeping in the living room.

Susan Smith reportedly woke to the smell of smoke first. She roused the teenager, who helped her and her husband Henry, who is confined to a wheelchair, out of the house. The boy then ran next door to have a neighbor call 9-1-1. In the meantime, Raymond Smith “dove out the closed bedroom window,” Loomis said.

The boy returned to the burning home to help.

“The son told me that after the boyfriend came out, he yelled inside for his mother to take his hand if she could get to him,” Loomis said. “There was no response.”

Raymond, Henry and Susan Smith were airlifted to University of Kentucky Medical Center, while the teenager was brought to Saint Joseph-London for treatment. The boy has since been released. The Smiths are all listed in serious condition.

The Kentucky State Police Arson Investigation Section is looking into the incident. Loomis said Henry and Susan Smith were living with Jeanette Smith because they lost their house to fire just a month before.

Loomis added there does not seem to be any evidence of arson.

“We would look for accelerants, maybe a place the fire started outside the trailer, we would look for a motive, the origin, a pile of paper piled up under the center of the trailer,” he said. “There is nothing to indicate that.”

The two Kentucky State Fire Marshal investigators who responded to the scene believe the fire started in a bedroom that was being used for storage. Loomis said the room contained oxygen containers in it, which were used by Henry Smith. Loomis confirmed one of the tanks exploded in the fire.

While the house was being partially heated by two electric heaters, neither of them was in that bedroom.

Loomis was assisted at the scene by Swiss Colony Fire Department, the Laurel County Major Crimes Task Force, Kentucky State Fire Marshals, and the Kentucky State Police Arson Investigation Section.

Staff writer Tara Kaprowy can be reached by e-mail at tkaprowy@sentinel-echo.com.