Lansing rental home where toddler died didn't have smoke detectors

Fire officials said a rental home that caught fire Monday morning, killing a 23-month-old boy and sending his mother and two siblings to the hospital, was not equipped with smoke detectors.

The mother, her 3-year-old daughter and her 4-year-old son were able to get out of the house after the fire started, but the toddler was not, Assistant Lansing Fire Chief Michael Tobin said.

The woman and the two older children were taken to a hospital, where they were being evaluated for smoke inhalation, Tobin said. 

Police and firefighters responded to the blaze, which began in the rear of a home located in the 200 block of East Cavanaugh Road in the city's Old Everett Neighborhood, about 10:45 a.m., Lansing Police Public Information Director Jordan Gulkis said.

"When first responders arrived, there was heavy smoke conditions. One child died inside of the fire," she said. "A mother and her two other kids are at a local hospital being treated and the cause of the fire is under investigation right now."

The child was pronounced dead at the scene, Gulkis said.

Investigators were still trying to determine the cause of the fire late Monday afternoon, Tobin said.

The house is a rental unit and was not equipped with smoke detectors, he said.

Scott Bean, a spokesman for Mayor Andy Schor, said officials were not immediately able to determine Monday whether the house was registered as a rental home, or whether it had been inspected recently.

During his career in Lansing, Tobin said, he's never seen a fire resulting in a fatality when the residence had working smoke detectors.   

The perimeter of the ash-covered home was taped off as police and firefighters continued to investigate the fire.

The family had moved in recently, said the property's former owner David Healy, who lives down the block. He said he sold the home some time ago. The residence is a one-story house with a crawl space, built in the 1940s.

"It was a shame seeing it burn," Healy said.

Contact reporter Jared Weber at 517-582-3937 or jtweber@lsj.com.