Two fatal mistakes may have cost the lives of the three little girls and their grandparents who died Christmas morning when a century-old Victorian mansion went up in flames and turned into a death trap.
Fire marshals in Stamford, Conn., said the owner’s boyfriend, contractor Michael Borcino, put still-smoldering embers from a yule log into some kind of a bag — and then left it leaning against an outside rear wall of the $1.7 million house.
The marshals said the embers had not been doused with water.
On the other side of the wall was a mud room.
When the wall caught fire between 3 and 3:30 a.m., the five people sleeping on the second and third floors had no warning — because there were no functioning smoke detectors.
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City official Ernie Orgera said a modern “hardwired” smoke detection system was being installed as part of ongoing renovations. But it hadn’t gone online in the five-bedroom home, which was built in 1895. And there was no evidence that battery-operated detectors had been in use.
The owner of the home, top fashion-advertising executive Madonna Badger, had stayed up late with Borcino to wrap Christmas gifts, a source said.
Then they went to bed on an upper floor of the huge, three-story house.
The girls, 10-year-old Lily and 7-year-old twins Sarah and Grace, were sleeping on the third floor. Their grandparents, Lomer and Pauline Johnson, were on the second floor.
“The fire entered the house quickly and spread throughout the first floor and up two interior vertical openings, trapping the occupants on the upper floors,” said Barry Callahan, the Stamford fire marshal.
The Connecticut Medical Examiner today confirmed that all five victims died on smoke inhalation and that Lomer Johnson also suffered head and neck trauma in the fire.
By the time neighbors spotted the fire and called 911 at 4:52 a.m., the home had become an inferno, with flames shooting out the windows.
“There’s a huge fire at the home next door to us. The whole house is on fire . . . There’s three kids and a woman,” one horrified caller told 911.
As soon as those inside the burning home became aware of the impending disaster, the adults desperately raced to save the children.
Fire Chief Antonio Conte said a “male occupant” — identified by sources as Borcino — tried to get the twins from the third floor to the second. But, Conte said, “The heat drove them to be separated from [him].’’
In the smoke and confusion, the two girls both headed back to the third floor, but panicked and were separated from each another.
“Looks like one went back upstairs, and one was found with the grandmother at the bottom of the stairwell between the second and third floor,” Conte said.
Lomer, who had spent the previous night playing Santa Claus at Saks Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, came upon a terrified Lily.
The 71-year-old grandfather pulled her into his room, stacked a pile of books to the height of the window and perched her on top.
His plan was to crawl out on the wide ledge outside, then reach back in, grab his beloved granddaughter and pull her to safety.
But as soon as Lomer got out, he collapsed from smoke inhalation.
“When he went out the window, that’s when he succumbed,’’ said Conte. “And she died just inside the window. When he stepped out that window, his life ended.”
Meanwhile, a desperate Badger, 47, had escaped through a window onto the second-floor balcony above the carport, and began looking for any sign of her daughters or parents.
She climbed up the scaffolding surrounding the building and wound up on the roof, where firefighters brought her to safety.
Borcino, 52, had been pushed out the front door by the raging flames after he was separated from the twins.
He heroically tried to get back inside, and firefighters had to pull him back.
He alerted them that one of the girls was trapped on the second floor.
“[Rescue] crews went on to the second floor, because he told them where they were. They tried the second floor again, but were pushed back by the heat so they could not find the girls,” Conte said.
Firefighters were able to get a ladder to the third floor, but ran into extreme heat and poor visibility and could not find Lily.
Borcino remains in Stamford Hospital, where he is being treated for smoke inhalation and burns and has had only preliminary interviews with officials.
Stamford mayor Michael Pavia said the home did not have a certificate of occupancy, which it needed because of the renovations, and should not have been occupied.
Badger had been waiting for a final inspection at the time of the blaze, although the family had been living there about a year.
Borcino, who was in charge of the renovation, is an experienced contractor. He owns Tiberias Construction, which specializes in high-end jobs. His past clients have included a Donna Karan store and artist Alex Beard’s studio, according to his Web site.
Badger had pioneered Calvin Klein’s iconic 1990s marketing campaigns with “Marky” Mark Wahlberg, as well as the campaign for Kate Moss Obsession.
She has since founded the Manhattan branding firm Badger and Winters.
“Smoke detectors need milliseconds,” said Jim Bullock, a retired FDNY Deputy Chief, who runs the firm NY Fire Consultants, adding that an entire room needs just three minutes to become totally ablaze.
Badger’s brother, Wade Johnson, posted on Facebook, “Dad would want me to tell you all to please check your smoke detectors.’’
Fire-safety experts also warned that embers from a fireplace should always be stored safely.
“Put them in a metal container with a lid, and keep them a safe distance away from the home. At least 10 feet,” said Lorraine Carlie, of the National Fire Protection Association.
The girls’ father, Matthew Badger of Manhattan, was not home yesterday.
The enormity of the tragedy has weighed heavily on firefighters, with 70 of them receiving grief counseling.
“It was heartbreaking,” Conte said. “You [feel] like if you don’t make the rescue, you failed, and I don’t think anyone wants to fail.”
And hundreds of people have taken to Facebook to send their support to the Badger and Johnson families.
“I know the questions going through her mind. Why? And it will never get answered,” said Kirt Pickerign, who lost his wife, children and a nephew in a 1999 fire.
Additional reporting by James Messerschmidt
The burnt-out shell of the once-stately Victorian home where three girls and their grandparents died. (AP)
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