Town mourns loss of five family members in tragic fire
by Peter Jakey– Managing Editor
Two years to the day since Rogers City suffered a great material loss downtown, the community mourns a great loss of life in one of the deadliest house fires to ever take place within its borders. A father and his four children lost their lives in an early morning fire Tuesday in a two-story home at the corner of West Orchard and South Sixth streets. The lone survivor of the fire was Kellie Wang, who had been recovering at Cheboygan Memorial Hospital from the smoke she inhaled. Family members were by her side throughout the day to console the grief stricken home mom. She was discharged Wednesday.
?I?m missing the kids, and Kirt,? said Jayme Warwick of Rogers City, Kellie?s stepbrother. ?I?m feeling for my sister right now and what she is going through. I know how much she loved her family. She dedicated her whole life to them. They didn?t have much, but they were a really happy family.? Pastor Randy Waibel of Sunrise Assembly Church of Rogers City, the church the Wang?s attended, was with the family and said, ?There seems to be no words of wisdom in times like this. The circumstances are as bad as they get. Every word of comfort seems to fall short of helping the hurting.? The victims include Kirt Wang, 38; Steven, 17; Sarah, 15; Naleah, five; and Emily, three. As of Tuesday evening funeral plans were uncertain. Their bodies were taken to the Beck Funeral Home where arrangments were pending. The cause of the fire may not be known for weeks, but a fire investigator believes the origin was in the living room. The Wang?s had been using a fireplace in the room. ?The Wang family was a quiet, loving family,? said pastor?s wife Cindy Waibel. ?They were very family oriented.? ?We were truly blessed to have them for the time we had,? said Jennifer Warwick. ?Hopefully, we can help Kellie through this time.?
?She?s definitely devastated,? said Jayme, ?but considering what happened I think she is doing pretty good.?
THE FIRE was called in by neighbor, Terry Langlois, at 4:34 a.m., who was awaken when his dog wouldn?t stop barking. Crews from the Rogers City Fire Department responded to find the home at 375 West Orchard Street fully involved on the east side. Rogers City Police Department officer Ken Bielas was the first emergency worker on the scene, and was soon after joined by assistant fire chief Scott Wickersham, who lives only a couple of blocks away. They attempted to enter the home to try and get the family out, but were pushed back by the heat. ?I could see the fire shooting out of the window already and went around the back and it was too hot,? said Wickersham. They tried the front door as well, but to no avail. Kellie got out and went to Langlois? residence across the street to wait for family to arrive. She was taken by private vehicle to Cheboygan. ?She thought Kirt and the kids were behind her,? said Jayme Warwick. ?She heard Kirt say he has the kids and just ?go!? When she realized she was outside and nobody was behind her, she tried getting back in and busting out windows with shovels and her hands.? Family members believe the final chaotic moments inside the home were spent trying to help each other get out.
?It was hair raising at first, trying to get equipment and manpower there,? said fire chief Tim Luebke. ?Once the manpower arrived, we could attempt a search and rescue.? Within minutes, fire crews found the bodies of Kirt and three children in a bedroom on the west side of the house. ?The bedroom windows were taken out and guys went inside and passed the victims out through the window,? said Luebke. ?They were handed off to Allied Ambulance.?
A crew from Onaway Area Ambulance was asked to respond and assisted at the scene, while an ambulance from East Grand Lake was on standby. ?That part of the house didn?t really suffer that much fire damage,? said Luebke. ?It had mostly smoke and heat damage.? The fifth family member was found upstairs.
MICHIGAN STATE Police fire investigator Sgt. Dale Hardy responded to the scene to begin the process of determining a cause. He was there from before daybreak until 2:30 p.m. ?He?s compiled his notes and now he?ll go back and see if he can determine a cause,? said Luebke. ?He believes it is going to be about two weeks before he can come up with a cause. All we know is that it started in the living room. Where in the living room, we?re not sure. So, we?re not even going to guess.? As part of the steps of the investigation, Hardy eliminated possible causes and moved inside.
?He eliminated the power lines and gas meters, and then he worked his way inside and eliminated certain rooms because of a lack of damage, until he got himself down in the living room,? said Luebke. A badly damaged smoke alarm was found, but firefighters are unsure if it went off. The age of the structure and renovations to the interior created complications in getting the fire under control. The was no evidence to indicate it was suspicious. Luebke said his crew handled themselves in a ?professional manner. They did what they had to do. There are a few of them that are going to have a sleepless night tonight,? said Luebke from the fire hall Tuesday afternoon. A debriefing for firefighters was to be conducted Wednesday in town to offer them an opportunity to talk about what happened. Luebke added that the situation has been tough on everyone, ?Especially when it is people you know, or family of people you know.? In July, it will be 39 years since a house fire in Posen took the lives of 10 members of the Gralewicz and Bonin families. The age range in that July 9, 1969 fire was 15 months to 85. At the time it was considered one of the worst house fires in the history of the state.
SARAH WAS a freshman at Rogers City High School, although both Steven and Sarah had gone to Rogers City Baptist Academy for many years. Sarah taught Sunday school at Sunrise and was a member of the Teen Extreme Youth Group.
?She was very friendly and had a giving heart,? said Cindy Waibel. Grief counselors were available to students at both schools Tuesday. Steven had been home schooled since last year. He played soccer and basketball for the Baptist Academy and loved fishing with his Grandpa. ?Kirt was an easy going, quiet man,? said Cindy Waibel. ?He loved working on cars and fishing.? The Wang?s lived in Onaway until about two years ago when they moved to Rogers City.
?As a family they took in rescue dogs in and kept them until they were ready to be adopted,? said Cindy Waibel. ?They enjoyed camping and doing things together as a family.? Naleah enjoyed making crafts and cookies with her
?1 PETER 5:6 tells us to ?cast our cares upon the Lord,? ? said Pastor Randy Waibel. ?In times like this you have to throw your entire self upon the Lord and not lean to your own understanding. ?God?s grace is great enough to get us through anything and everything, but the healing of this kind of hurt takes time. This tragedy will certainly take time to heal.?
Huron National Bank has set up an account in the ?Kellie Wang Family? name for residents who want to provide her financial assistance. Mail checks to HNB, PO Box 240, Rogers City, MI 49779