[The video link is Gov. Matt Blunt's news conference in Anderson at 2:10 p.m. (It's 14 minutes long.) To see KY3 News' 5 p.m. report, click here. It includes reports from Cara Connelly, David Catanese, and Cara Restell]
ANDERSON, Mo. -- The executive director of a group home where 10 people died in a fire has a series of past violations and served time in prison for Medicare fraud.
The home in Anderson is operated by Joplin River of Life Ministries. Its executive director, Robert Dupont, was convicted of conspiracy to commit fraud in 2003 for his part in a scheme to bilk the Medicare program. Prosecutors said he steered patients from group homes he owned, including the one in Anderson, to hand-picked doctors.
Federal records show those doctors, in exchange, falsely certified that the patients needed home health services from two companies that Dupont owned or co-owned. Dupont was sentenced to 21 months in the federal prison in Leavenworth, Kan., followed by three years of supervised release. Earlier this year, a federal judge rejected Dupont's efforts to have the conviction vacated.
Gov. Matt Blunt says the rubble of the fire that killed 10 people and injured 25 others is being treated as a crime scene. Blunt stopped short of saying it was definitely a crime but said it was a suspicious fire that gutted the Anderson Guest House. The state-licensed, privately-owned home housed elderly and mentally ill people.
"We're not saying it is definitely a crime scene but we are treating it as if it is and trying to determine if the fire was set by somebody who had a nefarious motive," said the governor at a news conference in Anderson, as he promised a "very thorough investigation."
The governor didn't elaborate on what makes the fire suspicious. It started about 1 a.m. Firefighters brought it under control just before sunrise but all that remains is a skeleton of cinder blocks. Assistant State Fire Marshal Greg Carrell said the home had fire alarms but no sprinklers.
Thirty-three residents and two employees who were married to each other were in the home when the fire started, according to Missouri State Highway Patrol spokesman Kent Casey. Blunt said one of the dead people was a worker and the other nine were
residents.
Ambulances took 18 people to hospitals. Four are in critical condition in a burn unit in a hospital in Springfield, two are in serious condition at a hospital in Springdale, Ark., and four are in a hospital in Joplin. Others are in good condition or were treated and released at hospitals. Medical workers treated another seven people at the scene.
Officials refused to say how the victims died or whether they had warning. Blunt said investigators are trying to find out if the home's residents were in bed when the fire began. Asked if two staff members were enough to look after 32 residents, Blunt said that is up to state health officials.
"Again, it was late at night," he said. "That would impact, to some degree, the amount of care that is necessary."
Early
in the day, investigators are trying to find a link between this fire and a smaller one in a mattress at the same home early Saturday. Carrell said the smaller fire was already under investigation when the second fire started. Later in the day, however, a Missouri State Highway Patrol spokesman said he
didn't think there is a connection.
Joplin River of Life Ministries runs the home. A woman who answered a reporter’s call at Joplin River of Life Ministries had no comment on Monday morning.
Anderson Guest House is a residential care center licensed by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.
The facility also has a program license from the state Department of Mental Health that allowed mentally ill residents to live at the home and receive treatment elsewhere.
"This is a devastating situation and we express our sympathy to the families of those who were killed or injured in the fire," said DHSS spokeswoman Nanci Gonder in a news release.
Inspectors from DHSS found some deficiencies at the home in March but none related to fire safety, Gonder said. The facility was cited for grease buildup in the kitchen, uncovered fluorescent light fixtures, allowing meat to thaw on the kitchen counter instead of in a refrigerator, allowing a resident to take more than the prescribed dose of an inhaler and not requesting criminal background checks as quickly as required by law for new two new employees. All the deficiencies were corrected within
three weeks, according to the health department.
Joplin River of Life Ministries also owns another group home in Joplin, known as Guesthouse II. Records show that 12-bedroom home was cited for fire-code violations in October 2003, including intentionally disabling fire equipment. The citation said the owner "failed to repair a malfunctioning fire alarm system for at least two weeks and did not implement a fire watch during that time," according to a copy of the violation provided by the Missourian Coalition for Quality Care, a Jefferson City-based nursing home industry watchdog.
Employees also "placed a pencil in the reset switch to prevent fire alarm activation and failed to reset two pull stations," state investigators found.
The fire in Anderson likely is the deadliest in Missouri since a fire in 1979 killed 25 at a care home in Farmington. According to the National Fire Protection Association, the nation's deadliest fire in a facility for older adults since 1950 was at the Katie Jane Nursing Home in Warrenton, where 72 people were killed in 1957.
In 2003, a patient suffering from dementia and multiple sclerosis, set fire to her bed and burned down the Greenwood Health Center in Hartford, Conn., killing 16 residents. Six months later, in September 2003, a fire killed 15 patients in Nashville, Tenn. Neither
nursing home had an automatic sprinkler system, and the fires led to a push for mandatory sprinkler systems in nursing homes.
Recently, the federal agency that oversees the safety of nursing homes asked for comments about a proposal to require all nursing homes to have comprehensive sprinkler systems.
The rule would not address group homes like the one in Anderson because such facilities are not subject to the same federal oversight.
The Greater Ozarks Chapter of the American Red Cross sent cots and blankets and volunteer caseworkers to the scene and said it would work with Joplin River of Life Ministries to find places for the displaced clients to stay, as well as provide other needs such as food and clothing. It also sent trained mental health caseworkers to talk with people who might need their services.
Blunt released a written statement on Monday morning.
"Melanie and I are deeply saddened to learn of the deadly fire at Anderson Guest House. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families during this difficult time. We have committed all available state resources to help determine the cause of this terrible
event," said the statement.
"I have committed the expertise of the Department of Public Safety’s Division of Fire Safety and the Missouri Highway Patrol to conduct the investigation. DPS Director Mark James, Highway Patrol Colonel Jim Keathley and State Fire Marshal Randy Cole have all responded to the scene to establish a unified command and ensure the state is providing maximum support to the local and county authorities," the governor's statement continued.
"The (federal) Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is assisting. The Departments of Health and Senior Services and Mental Health are also responding to the
incident. Uninjured residents at Anderson Guest House have been moved to safety at the local armory where facility staff members are providing for their care.”
Investigators have set up a mobile home mobile command unit. The Highway Patrol has questioned at least three people and is looking for at least two more.
Regardless of what investigators find, it doesn't change what happened. Smoke, flames and screams woke up many families. Betty Woods said she called 911 twice.
“I called 911 again and I said I think we're going to have an explosion here because there are vehicles on fire,” said Woods. “He said, ‘Ma'am, I've got everything I've got coming your way.’”
Woods says it could take a long time to get over the horror.
“I am worried about my daughter,” she said. “She's 15 and she was crying for a long time last night. We had a terrible time getting her to sleep. She said, ‘Mom, I still hear the woman screaming, I still hear her screaming. It was awful.’”
The thought that this might have been arson is too much to bear for Woods.
“It's such a helpless feeling, not being able to help them, knowing they are depending on you,” she said.
Just across the street from Anderson Guest House is the Anderson Animal Hospital, where people are dealing with the loss of a friend. A cat named Fred belonged to a man named Don Schorzman who died in the fire. Schorzman had been unable to care for the cat, so the hospital adopted him and Schorzman made frequent trips across the street to the hospital to visit his cat.
On Monday, Schorzman’s family found out he died and went to see Patrice Lasiter at the animal hospital.
“They wanted to thank me for being his friend. But I got so much more from Don than I ever gave him, because he was so genuine. And
what he said, he meant. And it came from the heart,” said Lasiter.
Right after the fire, residents who were not injured were taken to a local armory. Afterwards, they were taken to a command post near Joplin and then to other facilities for their care.
The volunteer fire departments said they got here pretty quickly and there were people from fire departments in both Arkansas and Missouri that came to help fight this fire.
In Springfield, where four of the most critically injured are being treated at St. John's Hospital, all four are in intensive care. They are three women and one man, ranging in age from 18 to 42 years old.
The 18-year-old is the injured employee.
“All of them to some degree have inhalation injury, flame, contact burns. They are all on ventilators, special ventilators,” said Dr. Ken Larson, the burn unit director.
Triage, nurses, surgeons and techs went to work as soon as the victims arrived.
“We have to make sure they have open airways. But then the really hard work comes when you have to start taking care of the burns themselves, which is very labor intensive. You know, we have a lot of debridement and clean up and get them clean, so we decrease the risk of infection,” said Larson.
Then comes the difficult job of looking for family members.
“Most of them did not have tattoos, no jewelry, their clothes had been removed at the scene. And then swelling -- the swelling sets in pretty rapidly. We have to shave some hair and so a lot of the distinguishing features with that extreme facial swelling go away and they are difficult for the family members to recognize when they get here at times,” said burn unit nursing director Debbie Mikkelson.
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The Associated Press' Marcus Kabel and Alan Scher Zagier contributed to this report. KSNF, Joplin, provided some video.
