Pile of Clothes Eyed as Possible Origin of Deadly Shelter Blaze
Witnesses Reported Seeing Fast-Moving Fire Starting in Donated Clothes
All five who died were on the second floor. There were 28 men at the 42-bed shelter; where men stayed in 10-by-10 rooms; when the fire broke out, said Don Walker, the shelter's founder.
"It's just really a tragedy. It's just some homeless guys that really cared about me and I cared about them," Walker said.
The Seed Sowers group recycles cardboard and newspapers at the site to pay for the shelter and soup kitchen, but Walker said the fire didn't spread to the area where recyclables were being sorted.
"We're just in shock over the men dying that way," said Lee Jordan, the wife of Rev. Billy Jordan, a retired preacher who serves on the group's board of directors.
The shelter was among the few homeless resources in Paris, said Bradley Scott, an executive director with the Red Cross in the area. The homeless who escaped were put up in a temporary church shelter across the street; Scott said he was still looking for a longer-term solution.
"We'll find them a place," he said. "They won't be sent out on the street."
Associated Press writers Jamie Stengle, Danny Robbins and Terry Wallace in Dallas contributed to this report.
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