Tyler J. Doohan knew he didn’t have school Monday morning because of the holiday, and asked his mother if it would be OK if he stayed at his grandfather’s trailer at the East Avenue Manufactured Home Community off Route 441 in Penfield.
It was a place Tyler knew well. He stayed there frequently, playing with other kids in the neighborhood and having barbecues and bonfires with his family in the summer.
It was in the back bedroom of that small, single-wide trailer at 39 Fondiller Ave. that firefighters found Tyler’s body Monday morning, just a few feet away from the bed of his disabled Uncle Steve, who investigators believe Tyler was trying to save.
Firefighters say Tyler, an 8-year-old who seemingly spent much of his young life in different homes and school districts, was killed along with his grandfather, Louis J. Beach, 57, and Steven D. Smith, 54, in a fire that appears to have been caused by an electrical problem at the front of the trailer.
And as Penfield firefighters — working their third trailer fire in a little more than a year — sorted through the rubble of melted toys and furniture charred beyond recognition, neighbors discussed the number of people who’d taken up residence in a metal home which they say had been deemed unlivable more than once.
“The roof had collapsed on the front half of the trailer and one of the individuals was found there, probably on a couch but there was nothing left to even see if it was furniture,” said Penfield Fire Chief Chris Ebmeyer.
“In the rear, there was a bedroom and the other deceased male was found in a bed. The child was a few feet way.”
(Via Democrat & Chronicles)
