Neighbors Tried To Put Out Blaze That Killed Two

Neighbors armed with garden hoses couldn’t beat back the flames of a burning guest house in Priest River, Idaho, where two children died during the weekend.

“Someone said the kids were still in there. We had three garden hoses on it trying to do something until the firetrucks arrived,” said Stephanie Bretthauer. “There was nothing to be done. It was going up real fast.”

Bryan Kielty, 5, and Felicia Ells, 4, died in the fire. Their mother, Celeste Kielty, 24, of Newport, Wash., was saved by two men who were sleeping in an adjacent room, said Priest River Police Chief Wally Mitchell.

Bretthauer and her husband, Damon, live next door and own the small twobedroom house on Lincoln Street that was destroyed.

The couple was letting a friend, Heidi Cook, stay off and on at the house. Cook was not there when the fire started early Saturday morning, and the Bretthauers didn’t know anyone else was in the home.

“We said we didn’t want any other people staying overnight and had no idea anybody was even back there,” Stephanie Bretthauer said.

Authorities said the fire started about 4 a.m. A preliminary investigation by Deputy State Fire Marshal Glenn Lauper said the fire was caused by an electric space heater.

The smoke and someone screaming woke one of the men in the adjoining room.

“He said he was trying to get his clothes on and get the kids out,” Mitchell said.

The men did get Celeste Kielty out because she was closest to the door, but the children were in a corner of the room trapped by flames, Mitchell said.

“We woke up when we heard glass breaking and yelling. We didn’t know what was going on,” said Stephanie Bretthauer.

Her husband broke a window in the house with a board to try to get the children, but there was too much smoke and fire, she said.

“The mother was across the alley sitting in a car,” Bretthauer said.

“She was in shock. She didn’t know her own name, where she was or that her kids were inside.”

Mitchell said Kielty was treated at Newport Community Hospital for shock and released early Monday. He had not yet talked to her about the fire. The bodies of the two children were found in a corner of the bedroom.

The bodies were taken to Spokane where autopsies will be performed.

“It’s a tragedy that appears accidental, but we still have to finish our investigation,” Mitchell said.

xxxx