Authorities on the Outer Banks have released the identities of three Marylanders, including a 13-year-old girl, killed early Friday when fire raged through a historic oceanfront cottage in Kill Devil Hills.
The victims include 13-year-old Sienna Farr of Silver Spring and married couple Colleen Cohan, 64, and William Deeg, 68; both of Ashton, Maryland, said Town of Kill Devil Hills spokesperson Rachel Tackett. The three injured were Sienna’s 48-year-old mother, 16-year-old sister and the mother’s 55-year-old boyfriend. All live in Silver Spring. The boyfriend was a friend of the older couple who died.
The girls’ mother and her boyfriend remained hospitalized in the burn unit at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital on Monday in stable condition, Tackett said. The older teenager was treated and released Friday from The Outer Banks Hospital.
In a public Facebook post, the girls’ grandmother said her daughter and boyfriend were in the ICU at Norfolk and will remain there for a few weeks before transfer to a burn rehabilitation closer to the D.C. area, where all of the victims are from. They are expected to remain in rehabilitative care for four to eight months, Cheryl Ray Volk wrote.
Only the 16-year-old walked away from the blaze.
“… My dear sweet granddaughter was treated and release(d) from the hospital and stayed in child protective custody until her dad could pick her up, not knowing what happened to her family,” Volk wrote.
She asked for prayers for her surviving family.
“This is especially hard, but I believe we all have a purpose in this life,” Volk wrote. “Maybe Sienna’s purpose was complete and that is why she was taken ‘home,’ but we will miss her terribly.”
Local and state investigators on Monday were still trying to determine what caused the blaze at 1825 N. Virginia Dare Trail. Firefighters were dispatched at 2:20 a.m. and arrived two minutes later to find the four-bedroom, four-bath house “fully engulfed in flames,” Tackett said.
She said it was unclear if the house, built in 1948 and registered as a town historic landmark, had working smoke detectors.
Carried by 15 to 17 mph winds, the fire spread to the home next door to the south and left minor damage to the adjacent house to the north. Everyone in those homes escaped without injury.
“Many hearts across the Outer Banks and Maryland communities are left to heal following this tragic incident. Please continue to keep everyone affected in your thoughts during this difficult time,” Tackett said.
Staff writer Corinne Saunders contributed to this story.
