Houston Personal Injury Attorneys – Smith & Hassler

One-year old Elias Castillo died Friday evening, the fourth young child to die due to injuries from the Jackie’s Child Care fire in Houston earlier this week. Two other children remain in critical condition in Shriners Hospital for Children in Galveston where they are being treated for smoke inhalation and burns. One child has been released from Memorial Hermann Children’s Hospital. Jessica Rene Tata, the 22-year old operator of the day care, has been accused of leaving the children home alone at the time of the fire, but has not yet been charged with any criminal wrongdoing. Ron Tata, Rene’s brother, says that she has hired a lawyer.

19-year old John Chestnut, who watched the tragic scene unfold Thursday afternoon, says he thinks Tata may have left something cooking on the stove when she went out to the grocery store. He said he watched Tata pull into the driveway of the home day care and calmly carry groceries to the front door. Chestnut said when she opened the door smoke came pouring out and Tata ran toward himself and others screaming for help and saying the children were inside.

Chestnut’s friend Geoffrey Deshano saw a little boy through a window on the daycare. Chestnut said Deshano then broke a window to try to get to the boy but was forced back by heavy smoke. Chestnut went in to the daycare through the back door, crawling and squinting as he went. He said he saw flames coming from the stove and could hear the children screaming. Chestnut quickly was overcome by the smoke and said he had to retreat. “I keep hearing kids screaming in my head when I’m sleeping” Chestnut told the Houston Chronicle.

God bless these poor little children and their families.

Local News Channel 2 is reporting that fire investigators suspect the 22-year old owner/operator of a West Houston day care left the kids along before a deadly fire broke out, ultimately killing 3 of the children and seriously injuring 4 other children. Jessica Tata, owner of Jackie’s Child Care, has not yet been charged with a crime, but police and fire investigators said a criminal case was building as evidence of what lead to the deadly fire is gathered.

Sources within Houston Fire Department told Local 2 Investigates that a neighbor states they saw Jessica Tata returning from a shopping trip to the grocery store, during which she left the kids alone at the home. That neighbor, Geoffrey Deshano, told Local 2 he saw Tata pulling up, frantically calling for help as she repeatedly stated she left the kids alone. Deshano told HFD investigators that he watched Tata fumble for keys, unable to get into the day care center. HFD spokeswoman Assistant Fire Chief Lisa Campbell said HFD is waiting to speak to Tata and they have not yet had an opportunity to do that.

Ron Tata, Jessica Tata’s brother, said the claim that Tata left the children alone is not accurate. The Houston Chronicle quoted him as saying that those claims were “crap” and he appeared to fault neighbors who, he said, stood by watching and doing nothing as Jessica Tata attempted to remove kids from the burning house. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, an investigator said that even the very cheapest of smoke detectors will sound an alarm before smoke is visible. In this fire smoke filled the entire home, so any adult would have had enough time to save all seven of the children had someone been in the house at the time of the fire.

Deshano said that once he and Tata were finally able to open the back door, smoke poured out and a crying and choking child emerged. He said they couldn’t reach the other children because the smoke was so thick and choking. The Houston Chronicle reported that as the tragic scene unfolded Jessica Tata, who had burns to her hands, turned to her mother and told her to call a lawyer, a Houston Chronicle photographer said.

If the Houston Fire Department investigation ultimately reveals that Jessica Tata did leave the seven children alone in the house before or at the time of the deadly fire, her doing so almost certainly goes beyond ordinary negligence and rises to the level of gross negligence. These vulnerable children, none of whom could probably even reach to open a door knob to escape the deadly smoke and fire, depended on the protection and good judgment of those charged with caring for them. If they were left alone in the house, even for a short amount of time, that is totally unacceptable and has resulted in a terrible, preventable tragedy.

The tragic scene at Jackie's Child Care in West Houston where 3 children died and 4 were seriously hurt

20-month old Kendyll Stradford who died in the fire at Jackie's Child Care in Houston

If you or a loved one have been injured in a house fire, call the experienced Houston personal injury attorneys at Smith & Hassler who have aggressively represented injured Texans for more than 20-years.

Thursday Feb 24, 2011: Despite Houston firefighters‘ heroic efforts yesterday, a fire at a home based day care left 3 young children dead and four hospitalized: all of the children were aged between 18 months and 3-years. Houston Fire Department Assistant Chief Bill Barry said that some of the children suffered burns, others suffered smoke inhalation. Firefighters carried 5 of 7 seven children from inside the burning house, which is known as Jackie’s Child Care and located at 2810 Crest Park Lane near Richmond and South Eldridge Parkway in far west Houston.

Per state child care rules, the owner/operator of the day care Jessica Rene Tata should not have been caring for more than six children over the age of 18 months. Texas Department of Family and Protective Services will most likely investigate that and other issues. Fire crews were alerted to the fire at 1:35PM and when they arrived found flames and smoke billowing from the house: 2 of the children were outside and 5 were still trapped inside.

Michael McAnders, a witness to the tragedy who lives nearby, said 22-year old Tata was standing outside the structure during the fire and screaming for the children. McAndrews said Tata had stated she went to the bathroom and came out to find the kitchen on fire. He said he overheard Tata saying she carried 2 of the kids out and told the remaining 5 young kids to crawl out. Tata tried going back in to reach a third child but was driven back by the smoke and flames before passing out prior to firefighters arriving.

The 7 children involved have not been identified. One child was taken to Memorial Hermann Southwest and another to Memorial Hermann Memorial City. Those children died. Three other children were taken to Memorial Hermann Children’s Hospital. Of those three, one child was transported to Shriner’s Hospital burn center in Galveston in critical condition. The other two children were taken to West Houston Medical Center and one was later transferred to Texas Children’s Hospital. Tata was placed on a gurney and taken to Memorial Hermann Katy Hospital.

The Houston Chronicle has reported that exactly one year before the fire Tata’s day care operation, which is registered with the State as a “child care home” was cited by the Dept of Family and Protective Services Child Care Licensing division for not having a fire extinguisher or carbon monoxide sensor on site. Tata has told of these defects on February 24, 2010 which was about 3-days before she opened the facility for business. These problems were later corrected according to Gwen Carter, a DFPS spokeswoman.

The Houston Fire Department confirmed the fire started in the kitchen, but the cause of the fire is not yet known. God bless those little children and their families as they attempt to cope with this tragedy.

A tragic fire at Jackie's Child Care in Houston claimed the lives of 3 small children and injured 4 more.