Two Small Children Die in IN House Fire

Sept. 09 -- Two children were killed in a house fire on Logansport's south side early Sunday while their mother escaped with an infant through a second-story window.

First responders were dispatched to the house fire in the 100 block of Montgomery Street at about 1 a.m.

Logansport Police Lt. A.J. Rozzi said Cataleya Arellano, 5, and Jason Whitelow Jr., 1, died in the emergency room at Logansport Memorial Hospital after firefighters pulled them from the house's second floor.

Rozzi said that the children's mother, Marlem Sosa, 25, made it out of the house with her son, Nayvien Whitelow, 4 months, through a second-story window. Nayvien Whitelow was flown to the Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis, where he was in stable condition, Rozzi said.

Sosa was flown to St. Joseph Hospital in Fort Wayne, Rozzi said. Rozzi did not know her condition. The Pharos-Tribune's attempt to get information on Sosa's condition from the hospital was unsuccessful Sunday.

Rozzi said Jason Whitelow Sr. — father of Jason Whitelow Jr. and Nayvien Whitelow — lived at the house but had left for work at about 12:25 a.m.

Jason Miller, investigator for the Logansport Fire Department, said the fire was accidental and started in the northwest corner of the living room on the house's first floor. He said electrical appliances could not be ruled out as a cause. Miller also said to his knowledge there were no working smoke detectors in the house.

Logansport Assistant Fire Chief Mark Strong said the firefighters who were first on scene positioned a ladder near a second-story window and attempted to make entry to get to the two children on the second floor.

"They broke the window and started to go in and right when they did the fire just got crazy right there — they couldn't make it in the window," Strong said.

By that time other firefighters were ready to hit the fire with water, Strong continued, allowing them to fight their way through the front door and upstairs to get to the children.

Strong said when he arrived on scene that flames were coming out of all of the front windows on both stories and one second-story window on the south side of the house.

Prompt Ambulance Service, the Logansport Police Department, Cass County Sheriff's Department, Logansport Municipal Utilities and Logansport Building Commissioner Deb Beattie also responded.

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