PB house fire kills mother, toddler; cause is uncertain

PINE BLUFF — A toddler and his mother died in a Friday morning fire at their home.

Jefferson County Coroner Chad Kelley said Friday night that 30-year-old Kassie Calvert and 3-year-old Devin Calvert were pronounced dead at the scene. Their bodies have been sent to the state Crime Laboratory in Little Rock for positive identification and to confirm how they died.

More than a dozen onlookers stood silently as Pine Bluff Fire and Emergency Services workers battledthe blaze, which destroyed a two-story house at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Poplar Street. Other large, older homes in the neighborhood were untouched.

Officials said they are not sure what caused the fire.

“We are still in the middle of our investigation, and we won’t release much information until then,” said Lt. Harold Clark, spokesman for Pine Bluff Fire and Emergency Services.

The fire began just after 7 a.m. Flames had already engulfed the house when firefighters arrived a few minutes later, Clark said, adding that it took about an hour togain control of the blaze.

Two men who had been in the upstairs area of the home made it out alive, he said.

Around 11:30 a.m., firefighters pulled the body of a woman from beneath mounds of charred debris. They pulled out a burned dog’s carcass shortly afterward.

About 15 minutes later, a group of people standing roughly 100 yards away gasped as a firefighter placed a child’s body into a large black bag.

The firefighter lifted the child’s body as his fellow firefighters stood in silencewith their heads bowed.

Authorities closed traffic on Fifth Avenue, a main thoroughfare leading out of downtown Pine Bluff, near the house for much of the day Friday as firefighters continued to sift the debris and douse hot spots.

Lawrence Strickland, who lives nearby, said he saw the flames just as he was leaving for work. He stood at the scene for several hours Friday and watched.

“This is just awful,” he said. “I can’t imagine what the family must be going through. I didn’t know anyone who lived there, but I saw people coming and going a lot. I think it was a rooming house.”

Clark offered thoughts and prayers to the victims’ family on behalf of his colleagues.

“Our hearts and prayers go out to the family,” Clark said. “This is definitely a tragedy, and it’s going to be a long day for us.”