3-year-old child dies more than two weeks after fire at east side apartment
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A 3-year-old girl rescued from an east side apartment fire in early January died of her injuries Thursday morning, the Indianapolis Fire Department confirmed.
Two other people, 31-year-old Raymond Diggs and 1-year-old Leilani Rembert, also died from injuries suffered in the Jan. 9 fire in the 2800 block of Elwin Drive. That’s at the Briergate Apartments southeast of 30th Street and Post Road.
Firefighters entered the apartment just after 10 p.m. and found Diggs and Rembert unconscious next to a burning couch. The 3-year-old girl and two boys were also rescued from the apartment. All five people were taken to the hospital in critical condition.
Diggs died on Jan. 11 from thermal burns and smoke inhalation, and Rembert died from smoke inhalation on Jan. 12.
The Marion County Coroner’s Office did not provide the girl’s name.
Smoke alarms were working in the common hallway of the building. Inside the apartment, fire investigators found a base where a smoke alarm would be installed, but no smoke alarm was attached, IFD said after the fire.
“Apartment management told IFD investigators they had been in the unit 2 weeks prior and the unit had a working smoke alarm. It is unclear why the smoke alarm was removed,” the department said in a press release.
The fire’s cause was still under investigation.