Woman, 70, dies in house fire

With flames in the stairwell blocking her escape, 39-year-old Belva McLean called out to her mother before leaning out the second-story window of their burning home west of Springdale and dropping her 5-year-old daughter to safety early Wednesday.

But her mother, 70-year-old Violet Cunningham, didn’t respond when McLean called to her a second time, said Keith Reilly, chief of Stevens County Fire District 1.

“She tried to rescue her mother,” Reilly said of McLean. “But she was starting to lose consciousness. She realized that if she didn’t get out that she would die, too. So, she jumped out of the window as well.”

The 2:15 a.m. fire destroyed the home and three nearby cars, all located about two and a half miles up Hidden Road, a primitive road off State Route 231, Reilly said. Cunningham’s body was discovered after firefighters finally doused the flames.

“Of course it’s a huge shock to” the family, Reilly said.

Both Belva McLean and her daughter, Jessie, escaped the jumps from the window with only scrapes and bruises, he said.

McLean’s husband, Master Sgt. Elmo Michael McLean, is currently serving in Iraq with the 81st Brigade, which is based next to the area formerly known as the “Green Zone” in downtown Baghdad, said Master Sgt. Jeff Clayton of the Washington National Guard.

McLean, who was deployed last November, is serving with the Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion of the 161st Infantry, Clayton said.

Cunningham was Elmo McLean’s mother-in-law. Along with Jessie, the McLeans have two sons, ages 14 and 12, who were away at a Boy Scout camp at the time of the fire.

“We are for sure sending him home,” Clayton said of Elmo McLean. “Mothers-in-law are considered immediate family.”

Family friend Maggie Farmer is on medical leave from her job as an emergency medical technician and firefighter in Springdale. Farmer’s husband, Bobb Farmer, who also works as a firefighter, responded to the early morning call.

But Maggie Farmer didn’t know until about 4 a.m. that it was Violet Cunningham’s house on fire.

“I’ve known them for about 25 years. As soon as I found out whose house it was, I got up the hill,” Farmer said. “I spent a lot of time there as a kid. Violet taught me how to drive.”

Reilly said the incident started when Belva McLean awoke and heard a smoke detector somewhere in the house. “She kind of went back to sleep. She woke back up and realized there was smoke in the room,” he said.

Maggie Farmer, who spent most of the morning with McLean, said she was sleeping with her daughter in the same bedroom. Cunningham was in another room when the fire broke out.

“She called out, and her mom answered her,” Farmer said of McLean. “She reached out a window as low as she could and dropped (Jessie). But she couldn’t get her mom to answer again.”

The first caller told dispatchers that the blaze appeared to be a brush fire, Reilly said. After jumping from the second-story window, Belva McLean made it to a neighbor’s home, called dispatchers and told them that it was a house fire and that her mother was still inside.

By the time firefighters responded, flames had engulfed the house, Reilly said. “It’s completely gone.”

The cause of the fire remained under investigation. “My suspicion is that it’s electrical. They had several extension cords around,” Reilly said.

Farmer said friends are giving the McLeans clothes and the Red Cross is providing shelter. The Springdale Grocery Store on Wednesday put out a jar to collect money.

“I think she’s still in shock. But other than that, she’s holding her own,” Farmer said of McLean. “They need a couple days to figure out what to do.”