Lost remote control leads to house destruction

A fast-moving fire forced a Medina family out into the bitter cold late on Friday night. The homeowner, Karen Rhine, said that the blaze was accidentally ignited when her 19-year-old son used a lighter to look for a remote control under his bed.

"Up went the mattress and before he could even, he tried to flip over the mattress to get it and put it out", said Rhine, "and everything just went up." Investigators say in the panicked moments after the fire started, members of the family made a fateful decision.

 

"On the way out, they thought they were going to try to control some of the smoke damage, open up some windows and open up the door and propped it open", said Chief Bob Painter, "and actually it works in the opposite with the wind, it just turned the whole house into a chimney, feeding the fire with the oxygen and it just continued to grow." The Rhine family says their three dogs were an important part of their family. Unfortunately, their beloved pets died after being trapped by the smoke and flames.

A tearful Karen Rhine said, "you know everything else can be replaced, we don't have our animals anymore and that's the hardest part, they were part of our family and they're not here anymore." Damage from the fire is estimated at $180,000, and Rhine says the family lost nearly all of their possessions. "What's going to become of us, there's nothing left, there's no where to go", she added, "nothing that can be salvaged out of the whole thing."