NEW MELLE, Mo.—An elderly Missouri couple died in a fire when a man refused to leave his wife as their home burned and the floor that was their escape route collapsed, fire officials said.
Kenneth and Phyllis Zerr, both 84, died in the fire Thursday at their home in New Melle, Missouri, about 37 miles (59.55 kilometers) west of St. Louis.
“It’s a tragedy, kind of a tragic love story,” New Melle Fire Chief Dan Casey said. “He could have definitely gotten out. The family knows he could have gotten out, but he was going to stay with her.”
Kenneth Zerr called emergency dispatchers to report the fire, opened a door for firefighters to enter, and then went back to his wife, who used a wheelchair and had fallen on the floor of the bathroom in their master bedroom. He stuffed towels under the door in a futile attempt to keep out the smoke, Casey said….