A teenager is dead after a devastating fire in Butler County.
The fire broke out Tuesday night on Booth Road, just off US 27 in Oxford, not too far from Talawanda High School.
One person died in the fire. The Butler County coroner identified the victim as 18-year-old Ryan Starrett. The preliminary cause of death was ruled to be smoke inhalation.
Talawanda Schools confirmed to WLWT that Starrett was a senior at Talawanda High School.
“The entire THS Family (sic) wishes to extend our deepest sympathy and heartfelt condolences to the family, friends and classmates,” a letter from the Talawanda High School principal Scott Davie says.
The school is offering counseling to anyone who needs it.
According to information released Wednesday from the Oxford Fire Department, fire crews on scene that night were met with heavy fire and smoke across the front of the house, including the front door.
Fire officials said a resident who escaped through a window told them her son was still inside.
“The mother said her son was in there. She was screaming and crying to get the firefighters in there and obviously they couldn’t get in there because of how bad the fire was and the conditions inside the house,” one witness Cicely Down said. “It was horrible. She was screaming for him. It was heartbreaking.”
Fire crews went into the home to try to rescue the resident, but were unable to get inside due to conditions of the house, and the volume of the fire fed by the damaged natural gas meter.
Neighbors said it was a chaotic situation as family realized the teen was trapped inside.
A first responder called on the radio, saying, “We’re giving instructions on the male on how to get out of the house. He’s down on the ground, trying to get out.”
Fire officials said once the natural gas line was shut off and the fire was brought under control, crews found the missing resident dead inside a bedroom.
The cause of the fire isn’t clear yet. The Ohio State Fire Marshal’s Office Fire and Explosion Investigation Bureau is investigating.
Officials have declared the home a total loss.
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