Mother, Son Killed In Fire At Coventry Apartments

December 31, 1994|By LAURA UNGAR; Courant Staff Writer

COVENTRY — Three-year-old Jared Brelsford's tiny black bicycle stood outside the charred, icicle-covered apartment building where he and his mother, Lisa, died late Thursday.

The two were killed in a three-alarm blaze that left 11 adults and nine children homeless. The fire destroyed their apartment and heavily damaged two of the seven others in the 100-year-old former St. Mary's Church at 62 School St. The Brelsfords -- whose names were confirmed by neighbors and co-workers but not fire or police officials -- were the third and fourth victims of fatal fires in Connecticut this week.

Brelsford, 27, lived with her son in an upstairs apartment at 62-D Church Hill Apartments, where the blaze is believed to have started about 10:30 p.m. State and local emergency officials have yet to determine the cause.

Neighbors and co-workers who knew the Brelsfords remembered Jared as a friendly, rambunctious preschooler who liked to ride the bicycle with training wheels and peak in apartment windows at neighbors' cats. They remembered Brelsford as a wonderful mother and an empathetic person.

For the past nine months, she worked as a certified nurses' aide at the Mansfield Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation, where she cared for elderly people suffering from Alzheimer's disease and dementia.

``She definitely was very genuine and caring in the way she took care of her residents. She really enjoyed that responsibility,'' said Kathy Sutherland, administrator of the nursing home. ``And she loved her little boy. She just brought him to a Christmas party a few weeks before. She wanted the best for him. I feel so bad. She will be sorely missed.''

The blaze that killed the Brelsfords drew firefighters from six departments, who worked into the early hours Friday. Other children and their parents, displaced by the fire, stood outside in the freezing cold watching flames climb into the night. Some gathered inside cars to keep warm, witnesses said.

Officials from the town, the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army stopped by with mittens, blankets and offers to help. All seven families stayed with relatives or friends Thursday night, and at least two local families called the town's social services department and offered to let fire victims stay in their homes.

Linda Murphy and her family, who lived in a basement apartment in the former church building, stayed with her sister, Donna LaPointe, in another building in the complex. LaPointe said she woke Murphy and her family when she was told about the fire. Murphy said she didn't smell the smoke until she got out of her apartment; her smoke detector never went off.

``We were scared,'' Murphy said. ``Flames were bursting everywhere.''

As the family waited outside with some belongings, LaPointe saw children in underclothes and bare feet, and brought them into her home to give them clothes and shoes. Town Manager John Elsesser brought mittens to the scene about 1 a.m. Friday, but could find no one who needed them.

State and local emergency officials removed the two bodies early Friday afternoon. As they worked, signs of devastation were everywhere. There were two blackened holes in the roof of the 3 1/2-story building, and icicles dripped from the sides of the back porch. Pieces of roof shingles littered the icy lawn. A child's plastic picnic table was covered with ashes.

The apartment complex, assessed at $281,050, is owned by Roger Pelkey of Bishop Lane in Coventry. Taxes on the complex were current.

Pelkey said all 14 units in the three buildings -- which date from the late 1800s -- have wired-in smoke detectors with battery backups. He said he was shocked to hear about the fire.

``We're just devastated by it all,'' he said. ``The material thing is easily replaced, but the loss of life . . .''

Two other Connecticut communities experienced the same irreplaceable loss this week. James Butts of Bristol died in a predawn fire Thursday, after he apparently entered a burning house to search for his cats. Luke Dery of New London died Tuesday night when a cigarette ignited a sofa, fire officials said. A Middletown fire Wednesday seriously injured an 86-year-old woman.

Brelsford was born in Providence, moved to Windham in 1979 and was a 1984 graduate of Windham High School. She is the daughter of William J. and Joyce (Scholz) Brelsford Jr. of Windham. In addition to her parents, she is survived by a sister, Julie Marie Brelsford of Willimantic, a brother, Jamie Brelsford of Windham and her paternal grandparents, William and Pauline Brelsford Sr. of Warwick, R.I.

The funeral will be Tuesday at 11 a.m. at St. Joseph Church, 99 Jackson St., Willimantic.