Fire Tragedy Strikes Family Twice

Girl Burned In House Fire Is Named For Her Sister Who Died In A Similar Blaze

(CBS/AP)  A young girl severely burned in a fire at her Brooklyn home is the second tot in her family to suffer such a fate; she was named after a sister killed in a similar blaze in 1992.

Four-year-old Gabriela Rogers was in critical condition at New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell Medical Center.

Fire officials say she suffered burns over much of her body when flames swept through her wood-frame home in Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood on Thursday evening.

Fire officials say the girl was rescued from a bedroom by two firefighters who had to slip beneath flames spurting into a second-floor hallway.

The blaze plunged the family into a repeat of the horror they experienced in 1992, when another house fire killed 1-year-old Gabriel Rogers, born to the same Brooklyn couple.

Gabriela's 14-year-old brother, Lamel Rogers, told the Daily News his mom had told him about the baby's death. The boy was watching the girl and a 3-year-old sister when the fire broke out Thursday.

"It happened 20 years ago. My mom told me about it. It's starting over again," said 14-year-old Lamel Rogers, who was watching Gabriela and her sister Thursday. Lamel and a friend managed to get his youngest sister, 3-year-old Cailila, safely out of the smoky, second-floor bedroom, reports the New York Daily News.

But Gabriela ran back inside the Stuyvesant Heights home to hunt for her beloved German shepherd, Nyla, relatives said.

Fire officials are investigating the cause of the blaze, but relatives told the News that Gabriela had been playing with a butane lighter.

The 14-year-old managed to get the other girl safely out of a smoky, second-floor bedroom. But by the time firefighters arrived, flames had already reached the hallway near the back bedroom where Gabriela was found.

[skalpakian]

"but relatives told the News that Gabriela had been playing with a butane lighter."

A 4 year old that knows how to properly use a lighter? Obviously it wasn''t the first time she was playing with one.

[denn034]

Condolences.

[michellem99-2009]

Yer never let children play with fire. Children have parents that oaught know better. Hope the girl gets better. I meant a 10 year old boy in hospital in 73 that was badly burnt and told me he played with matches. I was in hospital as well.

[carolrhill]

I just do not understand how these children get a hold of lighters? When I was a child my father smoked a lot and we were never allowed close to his lighter because we had rules in the house and that is the way it was. They had already lost a child that way why they want to chance it again? I just do not get it at all. It does not take a bloody scientist to keep all lighters away from their children and that is a fact.
It is not the fault of the child it the fault of the parents and the older brother that was babysitting the children. I just do not get it at all.
MAY GOD BLESS THE CHILD AND THE FAMILY DURING THIS VERY ROUGH TIME NOW AND FOREVER AS I AM SURE HE WILL!!!

[excelsior9]

All sounds to coincidental to me. We will see how the investigation pans out.

[feelfree1]

Re: "Girl Burned In House Fire Is Named For Her Sister Who Died In A Similar Blaze"

I wonder if Chevron will attempt to harness the "Human Energy" that is released in such events?

At any rate, naming a sibling after a previously deceased sibling seems like a bad idea, and in poor taste.

[michellem99-2009]

We had rules growing up. Rules at home and school. As we got older we understood why we have rules at home and every where we go. There are there for all as they are needed.. It does not take passing more bloody laws as we have common sense to know right from wrong. That is why HE gives children parents. I feel for the girl who will bear the scars of the fire. Poor child.

[sidni28139]

babykiller, God was with her and He still is. He gave us free will, which unfortunately, sometimes allows unpleasant things to happen...such as a child playing with a lighter and starting a fire.

If He hadn''t given us free will, people would complain about that too. Things like this are a sad part of life - they happen.

I for one and grateful He is there for people to lean on in times like these, rather than having to suffer alone. If the child doesn''t make it, she will be in God''s presence. Where will you be?