Girl, 3, Dies in Michigan Apartment Blaze

--

Nov. 16--BERRIEN SPRINGS -- A 3-year-old girl died Tuesday when fire roared through an Oronoko Township apartment building.

Her parents and their 5-month-old infant son escaped through a second-story window.

A police press release said the two adults and the infant all jumped from the second floor, but a resident of the apartment house said the baby was thrown to someone's waiting arms below. Police said the father tried to go back into the house to rescue the girl but was turned back by the intense fire.

The fire's cause was not immediately known.

The girl was identified as Rockelle Isabella-Aeppelina Haas. Her body was recovered from the apartment a few hours after the fire was put out.

Her parents were identified by Berrien Springs-Oronoko Township police as Robert Haas, 47, and Jessica Haas, 25. The baby is Jacob Trebor-Zeppelin Haas.

Robert Haas was transferred from Lakeland Regional Medical Center in St. Joseph to Bronson Methodist Hospital's burn unit in Kalamazoo, Berrien Springs-Oronoko Police Chief Milt Agay said in the press release.

The hospital said it had no information to give about him Tuesday afternoon.

Agay said Jessica and Jacob were treated and released from Lakeland.

Eight other people escaped the fire in the apartment house, Agay said.

The apartment house is at 8733 Valley View Drive in Oronoko Township, just outside Berrien Springs. It is owned by Brandon Rapp of Dowagiac, according to Oronoko Township tax records. His phone number is unlisted.

The house fire started about an hour before sunrise. About two hours later and nearby on U.S. 31, a chain reaction accident in the fog put even heavier pressure on firefighters and police. (See story in the Local section.)

Dana Mischke, who lived in the apartment below where the Haas family lived, recounted her experience of the early morning drama during a phone interview Tuesday afternoon. Mischke said she lived with her boyfriend, Dustin Valzonis, and two other men in the apartment below the Haases. She said they had only lived in the apartment a couple of weeks.

"We were all sittin' in the living room, and we hear this big bang, and the dogs started running around (upstairs), and the whole house was shaking and glass was breaking," she said.

She said the "bang" came from the Haases' apartment.

"One of my roommates (Jason Hettinger) went to the side door that connects to the upstairs and downstairs apartments and yelled 'Fire!' We rounded up everybody, got what we could and ran out. As soon as we ran out our whole apartment was in flames."

Mischke said Valzonis and Hettinger tried to reach Rockelle, with one standing on the other's shoulders. She said Jacob was thrown from the second story into someone's waiting arms, but she didn't know who tossed the baby or who caught him.

WSBT-TV reported that neighbor Quigley Morris and others tried to get into the house but were kept back by smoke and flames. It also quoted witnesses as saying the family tried futilely to get Rockelle to come to the window.

Berrien Springs-Oronoko Township police Patrolman Russ Robbins said he was the first official on the scene after receiving the dispatch call about 6:25 a.m.

He said flames were shooting out of the house, and the Haases were standing outside. "They were out here screaming that they had the other baby in the house. By that time flames were too bad, no one could go in."

Robbins said the couple had their infant wrapped in a blanket, and a Medic 1 ambulance took them to a hospital.

A man who would only give his first name, Daniel, was interviewed Tuesday morning outside the burned-out house. He said he had moved from Texas and lived in the other ground-floor apartment for five or six months. He said the apartment above him was unoccupied.

He said it had been "a very rough night.

"I just had a feeling that something was wrong" before the fire started, Daniel said. "I prayed about it to protect us."

He said he opened his door, saw smoke coming from an eave and then put on his pants, got his dog and left his apartment.

"It's unbelievable to see how fast a house can go down" from fire, Daniel said.

"Maybe God sent an angel and woke me up," he said.

Berrien Springs-Oronoko Township Fire Chief Bruce Stover said the fire appeared to have started at the back of the house. He said firefighters had not found any smoke detectors, but the search of the house would resume this morning.

Agay said that because of the child's death, Sgt. Scott LeRoy with the State Police Fire Marshal's Division in Paw Paw was called in to assist local investigators. Agay said detectives are also looking into the matter of whether there were smoke detectors.

Stover said that in addition to his department, firefighters came from the following departments: Eau Claire-Pipestone-Berrien, Sodus Township, Lake Township, Royalton Township and Niles Township. The departments not only provided extra firefighters, but extra air supply tanks, he said.

Stover said a small fire broke out in a nearby house, probably as a result of a short in an electric line between the two houses, causing "backfeeding."

Agay said the Berrien County Sheriff's Department and state police road patrol also assisted.