12 Dead In Residential Fires

RENO, Nev. (AP) _ A fire tore through a Reno mobile home, killing two people in the home and a neighbor who apparently tried to rescue them, authorities said. <br/><br/>Three people were also killed when

Monday, August 13th 2007, 8:40 am

By: News On 6

RENO, Nev. (AP) _ A fire tore through a Reno mobile home, killing two people in the home and a neighbor who apparently tried to rescue them, authorities said.

Three people were also killed when a fire deemed suspicious burned a suburban Chicago home, while authorities in St. Joseph, Mo., investigated the cause of a house fire Saturday that claimed six lives.

In Reno, Washoe County Deputy Coroner Steve Finnell said the names of the victims will not be released until after autopsies are performed Monday.

He said the two victims inside the home were believed to be a married couple.

``It appears that a neighbor made entry into the home to alert the people inside,'' Fire Department spokesman Steve Frady said.

The home at the Skyline Mobile Home Park in north Reno was fully engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived late Saturday night, Frady said.

He said the blaze spread to an unoccupied mobile home, which also was on fire when crews arrived.

The blazes destroyed both homes, damaged two vehicles and touched off a small brush fire that was quickly extinguished.

In Naperville, Ill., authorities were searching for the cause of Saturday's blaze that killed a woman and her two young children.

``The fire is suspicious in nature,'' Naperville Police Sgt. Elizabeth Smith said Sunday. She said the fire was under investigation and declined to discuss what made it appear suspicious.

Killed were Nimisha Tiwari, 32; her son, Vakadham, 4; and daughter, Anaya, 18-months-old, said Naperville Police Sgt. Elizabeth Smith.

An autopsy Sunday determined Anaya Tiwari died of thermal burns, and her death was ruled a homicide, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office. The office would not release the results of the autopsy performed on the child's mother.

All three were found unconscious in a second-story bedroom Saturday afternoon, authorities said.

They were first transported to Edward Hospital in Naperville, where the boy was pronounced dead. His mother and sister were later airlifted to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, where they died of their injuries.

The husband and father of the victims was not at home at the time of the fire, according to authorities.

Detectives have spoke with him and have corroborated that he was taking business classes Saturday in Chicago at the time of the fire, Naperville police Cmdr. Mike Anders said Sunday.

Meanwhile, authorities in St. Joseph weren't ready to declare the cause of a fire that killed six members of a family. But Fire Inspector Steve Henrichson said the fire likely started near an electrical outlet where an air-conditioning unit was functioning.

Four children and two adults were killed. The slain woman's husband survived by jumping out a second-story window.