Three-Year-Old Girl Succumbs to Injuries Sustained in IN Apartment Fire

Thumbnail and photo courtesy of the Indianapolis (IN) Fire Department.

According to a report from WGN9, the three-year-old girl who had been seriously injured in the January 9 Indianapolis, Indiana, apartment fire that killed her father and 15-month-old sister has also died.

Indianapolis (IN) Fire Department (IFD) Battalion Chief Rita Reith said the department has been notified that the girl passed away Thursday morning. She was one of five people IFD firefighters pulled from the smoke-filled apartment, all unconscious and in cardiac arrest.

The girl’s 31-year-old father, Raymond Diggs, died on January 11, while her 15-month-old sister, Leilani Rembert, died January 12.



Reith said a 12-year-old boy remains hospitalized, while a 14-year-old boy was released from the hospital as he continues to recover.

The children’s mother was not home at the time the fire broke out, which investigators believe started on a couch. However, how the fire started remains unknown, Reith said.

Burning couches can emit dangerous chemicals, and the victims may have been sleeping as the fire kindled.

Fire investigators said a smoke alarm had been removed from the apartment before the fire for some unknown reason. The apartment complex’s management said the apartment had a working smoke alarm about two weeks before the fire.

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