Mar 21, 2009 6:29 pm US/Eastern
4 Dead In Upstate NY Group Home Fire
WELLS, N.Y. (AP) ―
Officials have released the names of the four residents of a state-run group home in the Adirondacks who died in a fire that destroyed the home.
They are: 52-year-old Anthony Vitti, 60-year-old Theresa Williams, 43-year-old Gloria Bonilla, and 32-year-old Corey Desotelle.
Five of the home's nine residents survived. One, 71-year-old Blaine Edwards, is being treated at a Utica hospital. The other four were relocated to another home. The two staff members also survived.
Gov. David Paterson says the fire started around 5:30 a.m. in the Riverview group home operated by the state Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities in Wells, a lakeside community of about 700 people 56 miles northwest of Albany.
Despite the efforts of several volunteer fire departments, Paterson said four of the nine residents perished -- two at the site and two while being airlifted to Albany Medical Center.
When the fire alarm went off in the ranch-style home, the two staff members on duty overnight went to investigate and found the back section of the house fully engulfed in flames, said Nicole Weinstein, spokeswoman for the Office of Mental Retardation.
One of the five surviving residents was being evaluated at St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Utica. The other four have been moved to a nearby home, Weinstein said.
"The community has been incredible," Weinstein said. "There has been such an outpouring of help. They opened their doors to us, brought us food. It's all very heartfelt."
The Hamilton County fire investigator and a state fire investigator were on the scene Saturday. Fire companies from Wells, Lake Pleasant, Speculator and Hamilton County responded to the fire call, and local fire officials who live across the street from the group home ran over and helped evacuate residents, Weinstein said.
Names or ages of the residents were not immediately released, pending notification of relatives. Weinstein characterized the residents as "developmentally disabled and medically frail."
"On behalf of all New Yorkers, I wish to extend my heartfelt condolences to the families, loved ones and friends of the four victims and to continue to pray for the full recovery of those five people and two staff members who survived this incident," Paterson said in a statement.
Hours after the fatal fire, the New York Civil Liberties Union called for an immediate investigation into the causes and contributing factors.
"Our hearts go out to the families of the victims of this terrible tragedy," NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman said in a statement.
She said five of the nine residents had been plaintiffs in the NYCLU's landmark 1972 class action case that asserted constitutional rights for people with developmental disabilities at the notorious Willowbrook State School on Staten Island.
(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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