Mom and her two kids escape house fire

Two-year-old Vincent Miller's bed is all that remains intact after a fire Monday night engulfed his family's southwest Corvallis home.

At 11 p.m. Monday, Michelle Turpin stepped out onto her front porch, looked across the street and saw flames building quickly under the wooden porch of the gray mobile home of Sobriety Miller, 23, her son, Vincent, and 6-month-old daughter, Jocelyn.

The home is located at 2010 S.W. Third St., across the street from and just north of Lincoln Elementary School.

"It was like a bad movie," Turpin said. "I was just in shock."

But Turpin's actions weren't those of a shock victim. At first, she said, it took a minute to register what she was seeing. Then she called 911 and screamed that Miller's house was on fire. The emergency operator told her to get Miller and her kids out of the house.

"I asked how - the whole front porch was on fire in seconds," Turpin said Tuesday. The front door was blocked by flames.

Turpin said she ran screaming across the street, shouting to Miller to get her kids out even before she reached the house. She went to the back of the house and banged on the locked door, followed by the bedroom window.

Miller's next-door neighbors, including Turpin's grandmother, 73-year-old Wilma Wiggins, heard the screams and went outside.

Miller woke and opened the rear door. Turpin and another neighbor, 19-year-old Kayla Chestnut, entered the home and helped get Miller and her children out. They slipped out the back door as flames engulfed the front side of the mobile home and filled the living room with smoke, Wiggins said.

The car in the driveway, a green 1998 Dodge Stratus that Miller's mother had purchased for her so she could go back to school at Linn-Benton Community College, was within four feet of the front porch flames. Chestnut said she tried to go back into the house to find Miller's keys but the living room was filled with black smoke.

Miller later realized there was a spare set of keys inside the car.

The Corvallis Fire Department arrived a few minutes after the 911 call was received. They extinguished the flames but the right side of the car, including the tires, had partially melted from the flames. Windows were shattered and firefighters cut through the rear of the house to extinguish the interior.

At 6:22 a.m. on Tuesday, firefighters returned to the house to extinguish a ceiling fire that was ignited by smoldering material. They cut through the roof to put out the flames again.

On Tuesday, fire investigators said there was either no smoke alarm or none reported to be functional in the home. They believe the fire was caused by cigarette ash flicked onto the steps of the front porch by Miller at approximately 10 p.m.

"They lost everything … the kids' clothes, diapers, her school books and laptop computer she used for nursing school at LBCC," Miller's mother, Lisa Miller said. "The car is totaled. It looks like Vincent's bed is all that's left."

Lisa Miller said her daughter is holding up well but is understandably emotional. Sobriety Miller returned to her neighborhood from Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center on Tuesday evening, relieved that a check of her daughter's lungs revealed no smoke damage.

Lisa Miller, 43, who works for Samaritan Surgical Specialists in insurance billing, said she had purchased renter's insurance for her daughter's belongings. In the meantime, Miller said, her coworkers have pitched in to provide some necessities, such as diapers and baby formula.

Firefighters also referred Miller to the American Red Cross for temporary housing and personal needs, Corvallis Fire Department spokesman Jim Miller said.

Another neighbor, Josh Leigh, 28, allowed Miller and her children to move in with his family in his small home until they find new housing.

"They can stay as long as they need to," Leigh said.

Lisa Miller said she is grateful to Turpin for acting quickly to save her daughter and grandchildren.

Wiggins is equally thankful.

"I thought my house would burn down, too, or melt," Wiggins said. "These are nothing but cardboard and glue … Michelle got them out. She's a real hero."

Turpin rolled her eyes in embarrassment at the compliment.

"OK, Grandma," Turpin said.