Fire damages Mount Airy home

A two-alarm fire destroyed the second story of a Mount Airy home Monday evening, but no one was injured.

The fire at 2524 Fairhill Ave. was called in at approximately 7 p.m. and initial reports indicated there were people trapped inside the four-bedroom home. That brought 40 firefighters from eight Cincinnati fire stations to the scene. But Cincinnati District 3 Fire Chief Anson Turley said only one person was home at the time of the fire, and that person escaped unharmed.

The house was also the scene of a smaller fire in recent weeks that caused little damage and no injuries, he said.

Chief Turley said the origin of the blaze, which caused an estimated $175,000 damage, remains under investigation.

Body found after apartment blaze

COVINGTON - A 65-year-old Covington man died Sunday night in an apartment fire at 20 E. Robbins St., less than a block from the city's main firehouse.

Covington police are not releasing the victim's name until next of kin can be notified.

Covington Fire Chief Joe Heringhaus said the fire started at an overloaded electrical outlet in a first-floor apartment.

Three other residents of the six-unit brownstone were injured in the 11 p.m. blaze. Police said all seven of the building's tenants have been displaced and are receiving assistance from the American Red Cross.

Darrell Whitehead, 49, suffered leg injuries when he jumped from his third-floor apartment onto a second-story roof and then to the ground. Two other residents, Henry Raven, 64, and David Recker, 53, suffered from smoke inhalation. All three were treated at St. Elizabeth Medical Center North and released.

The victim, who lived alone in a second-floor apartment, died from carbon monoxide poisoning, Kenton County Coroner Dr. David Suetholz said.

The building, valued at $72,000, was destroyed in the blaze, he said.

Firefighters discover high level of lethal gas

Five people escaped serious injury Monday in Clifton when their faulty furnace emitted levels of carbon-monoxide considered extremely high.

Cincinnati firefighters responded about 9 a.m. when two residents of the building at 2360 Ohio Ave. called to say they felt sick and smelled a funny odor. Their apartment had a carbon-monoxide detector. Firefighters tested the air and found 80 parts per million inside.

That was more than enough to prompt firefighters to evacuate the premises - their policy calls for evacuation at 30 parts per million. But then they went in search of other possible victims and found two in another apartment, where the reading skyrocketed to 900.

The victims, two men and three women whose names were not released, were taken to University Hospital. They "appear to be out of immediate danger,'' said Cincinnati District 3 Chief Anson Turley.

Xenia teenager dies swimming in Trinidad

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad - Authorities were searching Trinidad's coastal waters Monday for the body of a U.S. teenager, one of two American students who police said drowned while on a beach excursion with an Islamic school.

The boys - Ahamad Abdus Shakur, 16, of Xenia, Ohio, and Ejaz Abdur Rahim, 15, of Detroit - were swimming Sunday morning at the northwest Maracas Bay beach when they likely got caught in an undertow, Police Constable Imraz Hosein said Monday.

Other bathers on the beach pulled Ahamad's body from the water but failed to revive him, police said. Authorities were still searching Monday for Ejaz's body.

The boys were about 50 feet off shore when they went under Sunday morning, police said. Lifeguards had not yet gone on duty.

$950,000 earmarked for tornado recovery

FINDLAY - State and federal governments have approved more than $950,000 in grants and loans to help the recovery from tornadoes that cut through northern Ohio a month ago.

So far, 449 tornado and storm victims have registered for government assistance, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said Monday.

Some of the money will go toward temporary housing, emergency home repairs and other storm expenses.

Victims can still apply for help. The deadline is Jan. 7.

The FEMA toll-free registration number: (800) 621-3362.

Democrats cheer Chandler candidacy

COVINGTON - Northern Kentucky Democrats greeted Ben Chandler's local gubernatorial campaign announcement Monday with an outpouring of enthusiasm and support that has been uncommon recently in the region's once-dominant political party.

A cheering crowd estimated at 150 packed a ballroom at the Radisson Hotel in Covington as Mr. Chandler, the state's two-term attorney general, told supporters he feels "at home" in Northern Kentucky.

The crowd was easily larger than the handful of supporters who showed up last week in Newport for the gubernatorial campaign announcement of House Speaker Jody Richards, a Bowling Green Democrat. And, in a rare upstaging of Republicans, the crowd Mr. Chandler drew was far larger than the 30 or so people who turned out last week for the announcement by GOP gubernatorial candidate Ernie Fletcher, a Congressman from Lexington, and his running mate Hunter Bates, a former top aide to Kentucky U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell.

So far, only Mr. Chandler and Mr. Richards are in the May Democratic primary. Lt. Gov. Steve Henry has said he also plans to enter the race. The filing deadline is in late January.

- Compiled from staff and wire reports