Originally published Jan. 9, 2009, in the Quad City Times and Muscatine Journal
CONESVILLE, Iowa — A 17-month-old boy died Friday morning in a blaze that engulfed a mobile home in Conesville.
Irving Camargo was trapped inside when the fire broke out about 8:30 a.m. at 605 Burlington St., where he lived with his mother, 20-year-old Brenda Villegrande. The child was born July 26, 2007, in Iowa City, the son of Villegrande and Raul Camargo.
She escaped from the mobile home, Detective Mike Bailey of the Muscatine County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement, but she could not reach her son.
Family tearfully watched and embraced nearby while firefighters from Conesville, Nichols and Columbus Junction worked to control the fire.
A woman and man who rushed to a window at the front of the trailer were led away by emergency workers.
Firefighters later hung plastic tarps over the window and sides of the mobile home to conceal the view of the child through the charred frame.
The cause of the fire is under investigation by the State Fire Marshal’s Office, assisted by the sheriff’s office and Muscatine County medical examiner.
Michael McCulley said he was eating breakfast when he saw flames shooting from the porch of the neighboring mobile home. He dressed, and “by the time I got back out here — it was a matter of 30 seconds — I saw it was getting worse.”
He went outside to see if he could help the family, who were screaming and crying outside.
“It was like, ‘My baby’s in there, my baby’s in there,’” McCulley said.
But they couldn’t help the child inside. “This whole thing was in flames that quick,” he said.
McCulley’s wife, Bessie, called to her mother, who lives next door, to call 911.
“They were here fast,” Bessie McCulley said of Conesville firefighters. “That’s one thing about these guys, they were on the ball.”
Michael McCulley said he “didn’t see nothing, not even a puff of smoke” when he came home from work about 8 a.m.
The McCulleys said they were not well-acquainted with the Hispanic couple who lived in the home.
But Bessie McCulley said, “they’re real friendly people.”
The American Red Cross is assisting the family with its emergency needs.
Copyright 2009, by Lee Enterprises
