A woman who authorities say had passed out when a fire broke out in her Vadnais Heights home, injuring her three young children, was charged Monday with three felony counts of child endangerment.
Four Maplewood firefighters were honored for saving the two younger children’s lives: A Maplewood firefighter crew that was first to arrive found heavy black smoke coming out the front door and while some worked to put out the fire others went inside to find and carry out the children.
Capt. Brad McGee headed for the second floor despite “zero visibility” and found a 3-year-old boy at the top of the stairs. He passed the boy to Firefighter/Paramedic Emma Johnson, who carried the child to Firefighter/Paramedic Nick Cook at the front door. Cook immediately began lifesaving aid. Firefighter/Paramedic Wendy Mainka rescued a 14-month-old girl from a second-floor bedroom and carried the child to safety.
The two youngest “required lengthy hospital stays, but they were ultimately discharged … without long term effects from the incident.”
Girl woke mother
The criminal complaint said about 5:45 p.m. Nov. 2, 2024, 911 dispatchers received calls about a fire at a Vadnais Heights townhome. When they arrived a distressed 8-year-old girl covered in soot was sitting outside. A 28-year-old woman said she’d fallen asleep and the 8-year-old, her daughter, had woken her saying there was a fire.
Because the front door was blocked, she and her daughter had jumped out of the home from a second-story window. She said her other two children were still inside the home.
Firefighters found the unconscious 3-year-old boy in a hallway covered in soot and smoke and only wearing a diaper. The 14-month-old girl, also covered in soot, was found in the corner of a bedroom with black residue in her nose. She was alert but having trouble breathing. Firefighters suctioned a large amount of soot from her airways, according to the complaint.
All three children were taken to the hospital, where the two youngest were intubated in critical condition.
Alcohol in system
At the hospital the mother told people there that she had been preparing grease for cooking and either lay down or passed out.
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Police obtained a search warrant for a blood alcohol test and, four hours after the fire, the woman’s blood alcohol content was more than .10%. She also tested positive for THC in her system.
Prosecutors say that two years before the fire, the woman was convicted of a misdemeanor DWI after driving her car into a ditch with a toddler inside the vehicle who was not in a car seat. She registered a blood alcohol level of .17%. The legal limit to drive is .08%.
Eight months before the fire, she was convicted of a misdemeanor DWI after being pulled over for speeding in Vadnais Heights and registering a blood alcohol level of .10%.
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