Alex Flores-Ortiz, 7, and his sisters, Siclalia Flores-Ortiz, 10, and Yesenia Flores-Ortiz, 12, died in the early morning hours of Dec. 12, 2014, when fire tore through the big, two-story house off B Street in Hamilton. The children’s father, Ismael “Michael” Flores-Ortiz, suffered burns trying to save his children. The mother, Crystal Flores-Ortiz, and their 2-year-old son, Anthony as well as their 9-year-old son, Ismael, escaped the blaze with minor injuries.
But Yesenia Flores says the trauma and emotional scars remain.
“He is so so,” Flores, sister of Michael Flores-Ortiz, said of her brother. “It’s not from the burns. His heart hurts from losing his children.”
Flores, who has young children of her own, lives next to the burned-out house at 135 Franklin. It is owned by Jeffery Eikens of Liberty Twp. who applied for a permit to demolish on July 15, according to the county auditor’s office and the Hamilton building inspector’s office. Eikens did not return a call seeking comment.
Vicker’s Demolition workers arrived early, removed wood from the windows and began tossing charred remains, including a mattress with zebra sheets and children’s clothes, out windows and doors.
Seven months after the tragic fire that shattered a family and put a damper on the holidays for those who knew them, the house is gone, but the cause of the fire is still undetermined.
Butler County Coroner Lisa Mannix determined the children all died of smoke inhalation and carbon monoxide toxicity. But the deaths, whether accidental or otherwise, remain undetermined, awaiting a ruling by investigators from Hamilton Fire Department and the state fire marshal’s office.
Neither office could say why the investigation is taking so long, or what they are waiting on to make a determination.
“The cause of the fire is still undetermined,” said Trevor Snider, a Hamilton fire investigator. “There are things we are continuing to address. This involved the death of three children. We are not going to do anything or make a determination until we look a everything.”
Bill Krugh, of the state fire marshal’s office, said, “This is still an open investigation. It is hard to tell why it is taking so long, it just depends on what is going on with the investigation.”
He added the investigators are not willing to release any additional information.
Krugh said some investigations are completed in a day, “while others can be open for years.”
Just days after the fire, state investigators said the fire started in the living room where a Christmas tree was located. The Christmas tree as well as heaters and outlets were also being looked at as the possible culprit.
Another element of the investigation is the family’s involvement in past fires, two of which occurred in different dwellings.
Firefighters responded to a call at 115 Franklin St. in September 2006 for a fire in a bedroom due to someone playing with matches, resulting in a mattress and a pillow catching fire. The report indicates that fire detectors in the home failed to operate and no injuries were reported.
In January 2007, the family was forced from their home at 115 Franklin St. after a fire caused by an electrical wiring issue, according to the fire report. Seven fire units and two medic units responded for that incident.
Ten months later in November 2007, emergency crews were called to 141 Franklin St. after a fire was started in a bedroom of the Flores-Ortiz family’s home, according to a fire report. The building suffered $50,000 in damages and seven adults and eight children were displaced for the night. No cause was listed on the report.
And this newspaper reported back in 2011 that fire crews responded to a fire at the 135 Franklin St. address, where an officer had to enter the burning structure and assist the family in getting out. The fire resulted in damages estimated at $5,000 and was caused by children playing with matches and igniting laundry on the basement floor, according to a fire report.
According to the coroner’s report, the mother was in the kitchen on Dec. 12 when she heard a popping noise, went into the living room and saw fire.
“She yelled for her husband who ran upstairs where he awoke the (children). He returned downstairs but the children did not,” according to the coroner’s report.
Yesenia Flores-Ortiz was found dead in an upstairs bathroom, clothed and seated in a tub with the water running. Alexander Flores-Ortiz was found in an upstairs bedroom on a bed near a north wall and Siclalia Flores-Ortiz was found in an upstairs bedroom in a bed next to an open window on the east wall, according to the coroner’s report.
The downstairs of the house had heavy smoke damage with a noted hole in the floor, and the upstairs had heavy heat and some damage, according to the coroner’s report.
Flores said her brother and his family still live in Hamilton, but there was no response to a request for interviews with them.
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