The Fire Department is investigating a fatal Springfield Gardens fire that claimed the lives of a pregnant woman and her two-year-old son yesterday morning. According to the Daily News, "The cause of the deadly fire was not immediately known, but detectives are exploring the possibility it may have been set intentionally, police sources said." The fire started on a couch in the second story apartment in a two-family home; there was a smoke detector, but it was placed too low for it to pick up the smoke.
WPIX reports, "The person who called the fire into 911 gave the wrong address. Firefighters arrived at a nearby intersection, but quickly moved when they observed smoke coming out of the Anderson Road house." A neighbor who told the Daily News that 23-year-old victim Linda Anderson "was six months pregnant [and] was so excited about that baby," also told WPIX that Andersonwas a "young girl trying to find her way... [She was] pregnant with someone she was not with, who wanted nothing to do with the baby."
The father of Anderson's unborn baby was reportedly taken in for police questioning. And the father of her toddler son Ayden showed up outside the damaged house—Rondel Hayes apparently received a text message from his sister (he did not answer questions). Another neighbor told the NY Times, "I’d see them and he was always smiling — he was the cutest little boy. This just is so awful."
