HAMILTON — Two teens and a toddler who habitually slept late probably awakened Wednesday to find their home ablaze — and their only exits blocked.

        The teens tried to pound out the window panes in a steel door. When that didn't work, they huddled in a bathroom and ran water into the tub, hoping to shield themselves from the encroaching flames.

Hamilton Fire Investigator Clifford MacBurney (left) and Hamilton police Detective John Nethers on Thursday examine the scene of a Wednesday fire that killed three. (Michael Snyder photo) | ZOOM |

        But nothing could stop the smoke.

        “When our firefighters got to them, visibility was zero,” Clifford MacBurney, Hamilton fire investigator, said Thursday. “There's evidence that they tried to escape. But they didn't have anywhere else to go.”

        Firefighters found Jason Glenn, 2, in the bathtub with his aunt, Angela Couch, 17, who was still in her pajamas; the bathtub's spigot was still flowing. The tot's mother, Jennifer Glenn, 19, was on the floor beside them.

        The boy and Ms. Couch died from smoke inhalation shortly after being pulled from the fire Wednesday; Ms. Glenn died Thursday at University Hospital.

        Damage to the Pater Avenue home, which had been converted from a garage, was set Thursday at $50,000.

        Thought to be the city's deadliest blaze in a dozen years, the e tragedy highlights the importance of fire-safety precautions — and underscores the city's need for another medic unit, firefighters say.

        At the time of the Wednesday afternoon fire, all four of the city's medic units were on other runs, said Bill Quinn, president of the city firefighters union. “So we had firefighters in the alley doing CPR and mouth-to-mouth on a baby and two teen-agers because we had no squad to get to them,” he said.

        Paramedics rushed to finish their work at other emergencies, but it took 17 minutes for a squad to head for Pater Avenue — and probably three or four more minutes to reach the victims, said fire Lt. Ray Smith.

        It's hard to tell whether any of lives could have been saved if another medic unit had been available, Mr. Quinn said, but added: “It sure could not have hurt.”

        Following two basic fire-safety rules — having a smoke detector and at least two unobstructed exits — almost surely would have prevented the fatalities, Mr. MacBurney said.

        If a detector had sounded its alarm, the teens — who habitually stayed up late and slept into the afternoon — would have roused in time to escape, Mr. MacBurney said.

        The city's fire department and the Hamilton Area Chapter of the American Red Cross provide the devices free of charge to families who cannot afford them, noted Deputy Fire Chief Steve Dawson.

        Soot patterns show that the fire, possibly ignited by a discarded cigarette, started in a living-room chair near the home's front door — blocking the home's most-used exit.

        A side door was accessible, but was locked with a double deadbolt that required a key to unlock it, even from the inside. Three keys that fit the lock were found in Ms. Couch's purse in the room where the fire started. “Trying to locate keys isn't going to work in a panic situation,” Mr. MacBurney said.

        Showing window-pane frames bent outward on the steel door, Mr. MacBurney said, “We believe they probably pounded that, trying to get out.”

        Given the circumstances, the teens' decision to retreat to the bathroom — the farthest point in the home from the fire — was sound. “This probably gave them the best chance of survival — but it wasn't enough,” said Hamilton police Detective John Nethers, shining a flashlight around the blackened walls of the windowless bathroom.

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