Grandview house fire kills one adult and one infant

When the knock came in the middle of the night, a Grandview woman got ready for bad news.

“It’s never good news at that time,” Shonday Jackson said Monday.

She would be right. Around 3 a.m., her boyfriend had opened the door to two little girls, sisters ages 10 and 6. Both were scared.

“Can we please use your phone?” the older one asked Jackson. “Our house is on fire.”

The girls had jumped out a window, the high side of a split-level — 10 feet or so above the ground, to escape the flames. Jackson quickly called 911.

Minutes later, fire crews arrived at the house in the 12000 block of Belmont Avenue. They would find the body of an adult female in the basement. An infant was rushed to a hospital and later died.

Another adult was taken to a hospital with critical injuries.

Early Monday, fire officials, law enforcement and Missouri fire marshal investigators dug through the house looking for a cause to the blaze. They knocked on doors along the street in both directions in the working class neighborhood in Grandview’s north end.

Officials did not identify the victims. Neighbors say the infant was a sister to the two girls who escaped.

Margaret Turnham, who lives across the street, did not know what woke her. But when she looked outside, flashing red lights filled the night.

She worried about the two little girls.

“They like to come over and pet my dog,” Turnham said.

She was glad to hear they managed to get out. Turnham didn’t know an infant lived in the house.

“I just hate to hear this,” she said. “I feel so bad for this family.”

Jackson said she had gotten up at 2 a.m. to fix a bottle for her baby. She was just getting back into bed when she heard knocks at the door.

After she called 911, Jackson asked the girls what had happened. The older one said she had awakened and could see fire beneath the door. She woke her sister and took her to the window.

According to Jackson, the older girl told her sister to jump and that she would be right behind her.

Jackson said the girl was a hero.

“She saved her little sister,” Jackson said.

Grandview Police Det. Sgt. Dean Van Winkle said Monday afternoon that the department was working on making family notifications and would identify the victims when that was accomplished.

This story was originally published September 29, 2014 at 7:16 AM with the headline "Grandview house fire kills one adult and one infant."