Wednesday, May 28, 1997
Rule fire kills four
By ROY A. JONES II / Abilene Reporter-News
RULE - A Memorial Day house fire less than 100 yards from a
monument to Rule's war dead claimed the lives of four Rule relatives
representing three generations.
Pronounced dead at the scene late Monday were Erika Sanders,
16, who had capped off her sophomore year at Rule High School
by being elected the school's Bobcat mascot for next year; her
grandmother, Agnes Bush, 60; and her great-grandparents, Cleo
Bush, 83, and Pauline Bush, 79.
The fire at 810 Fifth Street, in a converted funeral home directly
across the street from Rule Memorial Park, was the costliest single
incident - in terms of fatalities - that veteran Haskell County
residents could recall.
"This is probably the worst loss we've ever had,"
said Haskell County Justice of the Peace Gina Brown.
Although official cause of death is pending the result of autopsies,
evidence points to the four dying of smoke inhalation within minutes
of the time the fire was reported to another relative at 10:30
p.m. Monday.
Winston Stephens, chief of the Rule Volunteer Fire Department,
said the house was full of "thick smoke and intense heat"
when firemen arrived, but that all four bodies were removed before
visible flames erupted and gutted the four-bedroom house.
"I feel sure it'll be smoke inhalation (as the cause of
death)," he said.
Firemen from Haskell and Rochester helped the local volunteers
in bringing the blaze under control about 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, Stephens
said. He also expressed thanks to Mathis and Sons Transport of
Rule for bringing water to resupply the trucks.
State Fire Marshal Investigator Donald Turk of Anson is heading
the investigation, assisted by Texas Ranger Marshall Brown and
Haskell County Sheriff Johnny Mills.
Turk said that out of caution, and because of the number of
fatalities, he was requesting the assistance of another fire marshal
from Duncanville. He said he also sent for a dog especially trained
to detect accelerants, the presence of which might indicate foul
play.
"It's just part of the investigation," he stressed.
"When you have this many deaths you have to look at everything."
Turk said it was the costliest fire he's worked in 14 years
in the Big Country, although he once investigated a seven-fatality
fire in Texarkana.
At this point, Mills said, he has no reason to suspect that
the fire was anything but a tragic accident. But, he added, "with
this many fatalities you have to be sure. That's why the experts
are here."
Mills said Erika Sanders called her older brother, Justin Sanders,
a member of the Rule fire department, about 10:30 p.m. and told
him the house was on fire. Justin Sanders relayed the alarm, then
went directly to the Bush home, only five blocks from his own.
"He was there when we arrived, but he couldn't get in,"
Stephens said. "We couldn't see any flames, but heavy smoke
was coming out and we could tell that it was really, really hot."
The sheriff said Justin Sanders told them he'd found all the
doors to the house locked except the front door, but that he couldn't
push it open.
After other volunteer fireman arrived in bunker coats and breathing
apparatus, they were able to enter the home and found Mrs. Bush's
body blocking the door, Mills said.
"I've never seen a fire that hot where you couldn't see
any flames," the fire chief said. The flames erupted only
after the bodies were removed, probably due to getting oxygen
from the openings the firemen made to get in, he said.
Mills said Cleo and Pauline Bush were found in the same bed,
and that Erika was found in her grandmother's bed.
Asked if she might have called her brother from bed and then
been overcome before she could escape, the sheriff said, "The
phone and a lamp came out with the body."
All four of the victims were dressed for bed, Stephens said.
Mills said Cleo Bush, a retired farmer, was ambulatory, but
that his wife required a wheelchair to get around.
Stephens, 37, grew up in Rule and knew all the victims. Working
with Justin Sanders as a volunteer made the long night even harder,
he said.
"What bothers me so much is we got 'em out but still weren't
in time," he said. In reality, the smoke was no thick inside
the wood frame and stucco home that the victims probably were
dead before fireman arrived, he added.
Gina Brown, the justice of the peace, ordered the bodies taken
to the Dallas County Medical Examiner's Office for autopsies.
Funeral arrangements are pending at McCauley-Robison Funeral Home.
Erika Sanders had been living with her grandmother for about
two years to help take care of the elderly great-grandparents,
said her English teacher and one-act play coach Bobby Robinson,
who lives only two blocks to the east.
Her mother, Sherry Sanders, also lives in Rule and works as
a nurse in Haskell. They had spent the Memorial Day holiday together
in Abilene, a friend said.
Erika, an honor student, had been elected mascot and would
have performed with the Rule High School cheerleaders next year,
said Principal Eddie Wolsch. She also was a member of the school's
one-act play cast which won district and regional and was alternate
to the state contest earlier this month.
Erika played the part of Aunt March in "Little Women"
and was named to the all-star cast at the district level.
"It was easy to direct Erika," Robinson said. "She
was not gifted with a lot of natural ability, but she worked really
hard and would have been an even better actress. She applied the
same work ethic in English; she was an excellent student, the
kind who makes you glad you're a teacher."
"She was a really sweet girl, always smiling," said
superintendent's secretary Julie Boger. "I don't know anybody
who didn't like Erika."
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Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps Publications
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