# Home of Elijah Cummings' staffer destroyed by fire; 6 children presumed dead **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 12, 2017, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/home-of-elijah-cummings-staffer-destroyed-by-fire-6-children-presumed-dead/776990 "2017-01-12T22:07:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2017, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/home-of-elijah-cummings-staffer-destroyed-by-fire-6-children-presumed-dead/776990/1 "2017-01-12T22:07:04Z")
☹ ☹ ☹ ☹ ☹ ☹ I can’t believe this isn’t a bigger story. This staffer had 9 kids (whether bio, foster, and/or adopted, IDK) and the oldest is 11 years old. [http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/latest-fire-involved-congressmans-staffer-family-44732543](http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/latest-fire-involved-congressmans-staffer-family-44732543) ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2017, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/home-of-elijah-cummings-staffer-destroyed-by-fire-6-children-presumed-dead/776990/2 "2017-01-12T22:39:18Z")
In the earlier news they didn’t say who it was so probably people assumed it was a poor black family which is not considered as newsworthy as middle or upper class deaths. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2017, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/home-of-elijah-cummings-staffer-destroyed-by-fire-6-children-presumed-dead/776990/3 "2017-01-12T22:43:55Z")
How horrible. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2017, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/home-of-elijah-cummings-staffer-destroyed-by-fire-6-children-presumed-dead/776990/4 "2017-01-13T05:04:24Z")
It only happened this morning, and confirmation of the scope of the tragedy and identification of the children took time to establish. Even so, I’ve seen it on various sites’ top story listings all day, long before the Cummings connection emerged. Sadly, the story may even be worse than it sounds. The mother and two other children who made it out are nonetheless in critical condition. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2017, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/home-of-elijah-cummings-staffer-destroyed-by-fire-6-children-presumed-dead/776990/5 "2017-01-13T09:21:56Z")
One of the girls pulled two others outside. She’s not badly hurt. The other two she saved are in critical condition. I wonder if they’ll find evidence of missing or non-working smoke detectors? It sounds like the fire was way out of control before anybody tried to escape. Alarms give people precious seconds to escape before it’s too late. Terrible tragedy. Can only hope the people in the hospital pull through. [http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/latest-fire-involved-congressmans-staffer-family-44732543](http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/latest-fire-involved-congressmans-staffer-family-44732543) ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2017, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/home-of-elijah-cummings-staffer-destroyed-by-fire-6-children-presumed-dead/776990/6 "2017-01-13T12:29:36Z")
It is prominently on the front page of the Washington Post print edition today. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2017, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/home-of-elijah-cummings-staffer-destroyed-by-fire-6-children-presumed-dead/776990/7 "2017-01-13T12:33:56Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > One of the girls pulled two others outside. And she’s only 8! What a brave young lady. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2017, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/home-of-elijah-cummings-staffer-destroyed-by-fire-6-children-presumed-dead/776990/8 "2017-01-19T21:21:42Z")
I have no idea who this is, but I wouldn’t wish 6 dead kids on my worst enemy. “(whether bio, foster, and/or adopted, IDK)” You don’t know, nor do you need to know. Kids are kids no matter how they arrived as part of the family. One dying this way is too many, no one (with a shred of humanity anyway) is going to say “oh well it was the adopted kid who got burned to a crisp, least it wasn’t one that came from that time he fucked his wife!” I’m sure it wouldn’t change the amount of grief being felt.