JEANNIE NUSS
Associated Press Writer

PEDRO, Ohio - Kathy Whitmer bought her dream home in a foreclosure sale in 2004 and over the years opened up its 12 bedrooms to friends - and friends of friends - who were down on their luck.

As early October brought a chill to rural southern Ohio on Monday, a fire that started near a space heater destroyed the home, killing Whitmer's 21-year-old daughter, three other women and an 8-month old boy. Whitmer, her son and five others made it out with burns and smoke inhalation as the fire, the deadliest in the state this year, turned the home into ash.

The fire erupted on the first floor where Whitmer, 52, kept her plants. Whitmer burned her feet as she ran through the house trying to warn people, her son said.

"She'd do about anything for everybody," said Kyle Whitmer, 20. "She told them if they were having problems, come out here."

Kyle Whitmer sifted through the ashes Monday afternoon after being treated at a nearby hospital. Charred wooden beams poked into the air where walls once stood at the house in Elizabeth Township, about 15 miles north of Ashland, Ky., near where Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia meet.

As firefighters hacked away at the smoldering remains, a green garden hose stretched out into the front lawn - a futile attempt to put out the flames in an area without fire hydrants. The state fire marshal said the blaze was accidental, and authorities hadn't officially identified the people who were killed and injured.

Whitmer opened a tarnished storage cabinet in search of photographs, maybe of his sister Rachel.

"There's nothing left," said Whitmer, wearing camouflage overalls and hiking boots a neighbor lent him after the fire, as he shoved his hands in his pockets.

Whitmer jumped from a second-story balcony as flames swallowed the home, then ran to the door to try to save some of the others.

The Whitmers lived in the home with Kyle's girlfriend and her mother, Rachel's boyfriend and friends who had fallen on hard times. Kyle Whitmer said the 8-month-old who died was the son of a woman dating one of his friends.

Also in the home were several cats, dogs, puppies and a 2-foot-long alligator.

Whitmer wasn't sure what happened to them all. Some pit bull puppies were in the back of the house as one of the cats pawed through ashes.

The alligator, Whitmer said, was in a tank and likely died.

Regina Besco, who lives in a trailer next door, said the fire was "awful."

"There were family members outside knowing they couldn't get inside to their loved ones," she said. "There was nothing they could do but watch it get worse and worse until it was engulfed in flames. It was terrible, and my heart went out to them."

Besco said two men pounded on her door around 1:30 a.m., told her their house was on fire and asked her to call 911.

"The smoke was rolling out of there," Besco said. "There was no way anyone could have gone back in there. They would have died themselves."

The people who made it out of the fire were taken to a hospital in Kentucky. Whitmer said some had burns and others had inhaled smoke but all were expected to be OK.

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Associated Press writers Lisa Cornwell in Cincinnati and Doug Whiteman in Columbus contributed to this report.

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