Melissa Lynn GILL

GILL, GUMP

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 2/10/2024 at 13:06:52

Melissa Lynn Gill
21 September 1974 --- 9 January 1979

An overheated extension cord has been named as the cause of a fire which caused the death of a four year-old Eagle Grove girl Jan. 9.

Melissa Gill, daughter of Robert Gump and Patricia Gill, died after she was carried from the upstairs bedroom at 116 N. Jackson by Gary Lalor, an Eagle Grove fireman. Attempts at resuscitation by ambulance EMTs and Dr. Dale Harding were unsuccessful, and the girl died of smoke inhalation.

The scene of the fire was investigated the following morning by Jerry Corbett of the State Fire Marshall's office. Corbett agreed with Fire Chief Archie Lalor's earlier statement that the fire was caused by an extension cord plugged into a record player in the bedroom. The cord was laying near the heat register, and Corbett said the fire could have started either by a breakdown in the cord or by the constant heat of the register.

Mrs. Gill told firemen she had put Melissa on a bed for a nap shortly after 1 p.m. When she smelled smoke a few minutes later she tried to enter the room but could not get near the closed door because of the heat. Firemen were called at 1:35 p.m. Gary Lalor said Mrs. Gill told him her daughter was upstairs. He looked in two other rooms upstairs for the girl and then managed to get the bedroom door open. Lalor said the smoke was so thick he couldn't see anything in the room until other firemen were able to knock a bedroom window out from the outside. Lalor said he saw the mattresses on a bunk bed burning in front of him, but could not see the girl at first because she was lying on a different bed against the wall to his left. "I went by feel. I couldn't see in the room at all," Lalor said. He carried the girl downstairs-until the ambulance and Dr. Harding
arrived.

Damage was estimated at $3,500 by insurance investigators, most of the damage occurred in the bedroom which was charred by the blaze, and other upstairs rooms received smoke damage. Water damage appeared to be minimal. Except for broken windows and some charring around the bedroom windows, little damage was apparent from the outside of the house.

Services were held Friday at 2 p.m. at the Assembly of God Church. Survivors include her mother and father, her twin brother Mark, and brothers, Bryan, David, and Timothy and sister Julie.

Eagle Grove Eagle --- Eagle Grove, Iowa
Wednesday, January 17, 1979