Mourners Say Goodbye to Family Fire Victims
Phil Noel
A woman identified as Tiana Blacks aunt morns outside the fire scene in P.T. Barnum apartments in Bridgeport
Funeral services were held for the Bridgeport mother and her three children killed in a fire last week. Hundreds of mourners packed Mount Aery Baptist Church to say a final goodbye to a young family friend Sherita Walker says was taken too soon, “just a week ago me and Tiana was talking about the future of our lives.”But a deadly fire got in the way of 22 year old Tiana Black’s plans.
Last Friday her PT Barnum apartment went up in flames. Trapping and killing her, her 4-year-old twin girls, Nyaisja and Tyaisja Williams and her 5-year-old son Nyshon Williams.
Thursday hundreds walked into church to pay their last respects and like Walker who walked out overcome with emotion, “she was a great mom, like her hands were burned trying to open the door. Its just sad.”
And each one had a different story... of a loving sister, “she was there for us when we didn't have a place to go. My little nieces and nephews. I don’t know what to do. It's sad, I miss them,” says Marlon Whitaker, Black’s stepbrother
They also described here as a dedicated mother working to get her nursing degree from Housatonic Community College according to her professor Mary E. Eady, “she was steadfast, she had a goal, she wanted to make life better for her children.”
Their grief intensified at the thought that Tiana and her three babies could’ve been saved, if someone reacted to that fire alarm sooner, “somehow I think if I heard an alarm going off for 20 minutes I might have checked I just might have thought hey maybe the person is sleeping and knock on the door,” says Eady.
Hours after the funeral Bridgeport Mayor announced he's holding a meeting Friday with town officials about promoting fire safety around the city but specifically the PT Barnum Apartments.
On Friday, the medical examiner said the family died of smke inhalation.
Posted Thursday, Nov 19, 2009 - 11:28 PM EST
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