Left home alone, the young brother and sister who died in a Niles house fire Wednesday set the blaze themselves playing with matches or a lighter, officials said Thursday.
The children, Michelle Manini, 3, and her brother, Mark, 2, died of smoke inhalation. They were found on the first floor of the home at 6646 Albion Ave., one in a bedroom, the other in the living room.
At the time of the fire, the children were alone because their mother, Betata Manini, was buying cigarettes at a nearby tavern, Niles police said Thursday.
Sgt. Donald Leavitt said the children may have been unsupervised for only a short period of time. He said the mother could face a misdemeanor charge of child neglect. A decision is expected to be announced at a press conference at 10 a.m. Friday at Niles police headquarters.
“We’re trying to determine if she neglected the children,” Leavitt said. “If she did anything illegal, we’ll contemplate filing charges.”
Betata Manini remained hospitalized in fair condition at Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge Thursday for treatment of smoke inhalation.
Manini’s other children, a 7-year-old boy and 9-year-old girl, were staying with their father at a friend’s home, police said. But Thursday afternoon, the state Department of Children and Family Services took the children into protective custody, said spokeswoman Martha Allen.
Allen said the children would be examined and spend the night in a DCFS shelter or other location. Family members will have to be interviewed before the children are returned, she said.
“We have to talk with the kids and find out what they have experienced,” she said.
Niles police records showed no prior contact with the family, Leavitt said.
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Allen said no one has ever reported the family to the DCFS hotline.
Niles District Fire Chief Ron Derbes said the fire gutted the two-story house, causing about $75,000 in damage. He said the cause of the fire, which started at about 2 p.m., was determined by investigators from the state fire marshal’s office and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.