Firefighters arrived at the scene of a raging foster home fire in February to find a caregiver hanging halfway out of a small second-floor window and two victims sprawled on the floor at her feet.The three were trapped by fire and smoke in the stairway outside the bedroom door of the two-storey Lindsay-area home, according to a Kawartha Lakes Fire and Rescue Service report obtained by the Star.The only window that opened in the room was “too small for a person to exit.” And a sliding patio door in the room was “screwed shut and unable to be opened.”Smoke alarms were triggered at the start of the fire but “occupants failed to respond,” the fire report says.Resident Kassy Finbow, 14, and caregiver Andrea Reid, 34, were killed in the residence operated by Connor Homes, a private foster and group care provider. The caregiver who was stuck in the window survived. The Star has not yet been able to confirm her name.A 17-year-old resident of the rural foster home for girls has been charged with two counts of second-degree murder and one count of arson causing bodily harm in the Feb. 24 fire on Quaker Rd. in Oakwood. She cannot be named because she is a youth.A source has suggested to the Star that when smoke alarms connected throughout the house rang, the caregivers in the upstairs room assumed the 17-year-old had pulled the fire alarm on the main floor as a prank.“Fire origin was on the first floor, living room area,” says the fire report, obtained through a freedom of information (FOI) request. “Cause of fire is arson.”The report doesn’t say how the fire started, but says the cause was “intentional” and “playing with heat” was a contributing factor.The report comes as news to David Hodson, the lawyer for the accused girl, who said it was not part of the information provided to him by the Crown prosecutor.“Despite repeated requests for disclosure, the results ...
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