IRVINGTON, Ala.—Authorities believe a child playing with a cigarette lighter started a mobile home fire in south Alabama that killed the young boy and a sibling, the sheriff’s office investigating the fire said Monday.
Investigators found the butane lighter next to a mattress that caught fire in the children’s bedroom, the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release. It said preliminary autopsy results indicate smoke inhalation and burns killed 4-year-old Liam Barnes and 2-year-old Noah Gordon when their home burned last Thursday in Irvington, southwest of Mobile.
Sheriff’s investigators said the children’s mother was next door visiting a neighbor when she saw smoke pouring from her home. Kali Sherman rushed inside the burning mobile home and rescued her 10-month-old son from his crib, but couldn’t save the other two….