Several Rescue Attempts Fruitless in Christmas Fire

Over and over, attempts were made to rescue the family lost in the Shippan Christmas Day fire. Each one failed.

Michael Borcina, the boyfriend of Madonna Badger, made one. He got back inside the building and led two of the children downstairs from the third floor to the second, but in the heat, smoke and confusion, two girls ran off—one went back upstairs and the other ran elsewhere in the burning home.

The body of one of those children was found with her grandmother near the stairway at the front of the house.

Madonna Badger, the homeowner, also tried to get back into the building, but the flames prevented her, and firefighters who found her still attempting to get in brought her back, away from the flames.

Badger's father, Lomer Johnson, got out of a second-story window, but fell, face first, to his death two stories below at the back of the house. Another grandchild was found on some books near the window Johnson fell from.

Fire officials believe Johnson had hoped to get out of the window, climb on some rafters that were there during a construction project on the house, and somehow grab the child so they could both make their escape.

When firefighters arrived, a crew rushed onto the third floor, but they found no one. A fire captain's face was burned in the attempt.

Firefighters made another attempt, rushing into the second floor, but that attempt also proved fruitless. Two firefighters were later treated for smoke inhalation.

"After 37, 38 years on the job, you're never prepared for anything like this," Acting Fire Chief Anthony Conte said during a 40-minute news conference Tuesday in Government Center. "I had to recall 70 firefighters today for debriefing, and most of them broke down."

The news conference did not clear up whether or not Badger's family was occupying the second floor of the structure, which was undergoing renovation. Under city building regulations, a permit is needed before people can move back into areas undergoing extensive renovations.

At the Badger home, on the second floor it was only permissible for the master bedroom to be used. Whether or not family members were sleeping there when the fire began is not yet known, city officials said. The first and third floors were available for legal occupation, they said.

It was also unclear whether or not a working smoke alarm or other fire detection system was operating at the time. Some initial comments from city officials at first seemed to indicate that no alarm system was in use, but later in the news conference city officials said they simply didn't know.

An alarm system had been part of a building application, officials later said, but that proposed system had not yet been offered up for inspection. Officials said they didn't know whether or not smoke detectors were still in place in the building.