Fire in rural farmhouse kills seven children

[Bunny]

BLAIN, Pa. -- A fire at a farmhouse killed seven children while their mother was in a barn milking cows and their father was taking a nap in a milk delivery truck, a state trooper said Wednesday.

A 3-year-old girl survived Tuesday night's blaze. Those who perished ranged in age from 7 months to 11 years.

The children's father had left the two-story home, on a working farm in dairy country in Perry County to get his truck around 10 p.m. Tuesday, Trooper Tom Pinkerton said. Two children, ages 2 and 3, were watching television at the time.

The father drove a short distance away to pick up milk and then parked the truck about a mile from home. Then, Pinkerton said, he nodded off.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11068/1130715-100.stm?cmpid=news.xml#ixzz1G6qNzuNX

What an awful tragedy. Does anyone else find the father's behavior odd? He drives a short distance away to get the milk truck, then parks it a mile from home at 10:00 PM to take a nap? His story is pretty weird, frankly.

[Divernan]

1. Could have been sheer exhaustion.

Farming is back-breaking work. When animals are involved it's 24/7, 365 days a year. Add to that 8 children from age 11 down. Could be the parents were financially unable to maintain a safe house - smoke alarms, annual inspection of heating system etc. A real tragedy, whatever or whoever caused the fire.

Other news reports were more detailed than the Post-Gazette. One said the father had made several milk deliveries and stopped to take a nap.

[demodonkey]

2. Noon news said that there WERE working smoke detectors; kids perhaps didn't know what to do...

...when they went off.

For everyone's information please know that farming, especially dairy farming, is incredibly hard work. Few farmers can make their entire living from their farms so most also have to hold other jobs to make ends meet. It's easy to nod off to sleep when you have worked an 18 or 20 hour day.

Also these days factory farms and Big Ag to keep prices for farm products low making it harder than ever for "Mom & Pop" farms to stay in business.

[Lugnut]

3. His behavior is not at all weird.

He's a dairy farmer, he also hauls milk in a tanker truck and he has a large family. The man is exhausted and he obviously catches a few winks whenever he can.