WOOD TV
Reprinted with Permission

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - A youth pastor and his baby son died at hospitals after being injured in a fire in their Grand Rapids home late Thursday night.


Neighbors told 24 Hour News 8 the victim is Derek and Dylan Taatjes. They said Derek's wife and the couple's other two children, girls aged 5 and 3, were not home at the time, and are possibly in Florida with other relatives.

Derek, 34, was a youth pastor at Crossroads Bible Church in Grand Rapids, officials there told 24 Hour News 8.

The blaze started around 10:50 p.m. in the 100 block of Mayfield Avenue NE.

When fire crews responded, they found Taatjes unresponsive on the house's first floor. Firefighters then found his son in a crib on the second floor. Crews transported both to hospitals where they passed away.

Fire officials said the blaze started in the basement of the home, but no cause has been determined yet. They also said the house does not have any working smoke detectors.