Displaying items by tag: Omar Riley

Akron's Fire Department releasing results of it's investigation into the fatal Tallmadge Avenue fire that killed four members of a family and left two survivors.

"Unattended cooking" on the gas stove is the ruling; even though the stove itself was burned, at least one the burners was in the "on" position and the blaze originated in the kitchen. Despite no evidence of working fire detectors in the home, the Fire Department says it was unable to determine conclusively whether detectors were in the home.

Parents Omar Riley and Shirley Wallis died in the blaze, along with their daughters nine year old Aniyla and eight-year old Shanice Riley. A 12-year old daughter, Shaniya Wallis, was burned in the blaze. Family friend Jennifer Grubbs was able to escape from an attic bedroom by crawling out a window.

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(AFD Release) – The investigation by the Akron Fire Department (AFD) into the December 3, 2016, fatal fire at 266 East Tallmadge Avenue has been completed. In the course of the investigation, AFD companies forced entry to all doors of the structure with exception of the east door.

The structure was examined using a systematic approach starting with the areas least damaged to most damaged. Inspection of the interior revealed heavy damage to the first floor kitchen area at and near the gas stove. The knobs of the stove were completely burned off, and evidence shows one burner was in the “on” position. Materials on the first floor show evidence of reaching their ignition temperatures.

Evidence shows the fire traveled upwards in a chimney effect reaching the second floor. The occupant of the attic stated that after smelling smoke, she went to the second floor landing and opened the attic door. Being immediately overcome with smoke, she ran upstairs to get away from it and was able to escape from a third floor window.

While firefighters did not see any smoke detectors, fire investigators were unable to conclusively determine whether or not they were present. After processing the fire scene and interviewing witnesses, the Akron Fire Investigator determined that the origin of this fire was in the first floor kitchen area at or near the gas stove. The cause of this fire was determined to be unattended cooking. 

The four members of a family killed in last weekend's fatal fire on East Tallmadge Avenue will be remembered and laid to rest Monday in a service at Akron's Celebration Church.

Celebration Church is on Dan Street. The church is holding visitation from 4:00 to 7:00 Monday followed by a Celebration of Life from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m.

37-year old Omar Riley, 34-year old Shirley Wallis and their two daughters, nine year old Aniyla and eight year old Shanice Riley all perished in the blaze December 3 which started in the back of their rented home.

Akron firefighters couldn't find evidence of any smoke detectors in the home.

A 12-year old daughter of Wallis', Shaniya, is recovering from her burns and injuries at Akron Children's Hospital. Akron firefighters pulled her from the fire and brought her back to life.

Another woman living in the home, Jennifer Grubbs, escaped by getting out of the burning house from a second floor window.