Third child dies as a result of Sunday house fire in Carpentersville

A third child has died as a result of a house fire Sunday morning that started in the basement of a split-level ranch rental home in Carpentersville, Fire Chief Bill Anaszewicz said.

The identities and ages of the three children are being withheld by officials and no cause is yet known for the blaze, which was reported about 9:45 a.m. in the 1700 block of Kingston Circle, Anaszewicz said in a news conference Monday afternoon.

However, the third child was identified as 2-year-old Kayden Corsello, 1726 Kingston Circle, who was reported as having died at 12:36 a.m. Monday at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood by the Cook County medical examiner’s office. An autopsy was scheduled to be done Tuesday.

“Just like the family, the firefighters are going to be struggling for some time (with this),” Anaszewicz said. “We’re going to be calling peer support teams to work with them over this week and the following weeks that come. Once we’re able to make sure everyone is OK, we will continue to work with the family and make sure they have the resources they need.”

It was the first fatal fire involving children in the village in more than 20 years, according to Village President John Skillman, the village’s former fire chief.

A social worker employed by the village is working with the family, particularly in helping them with funeral and burial arrangements for the three children, he said.

In addition to the three children, there were three adults in the house, according to Anaszewicz  and Carpentersville police Chief Todd Shaver said. The children’s grandmother was taken to Prime Healthcare St. Joseph Medical Center in Elgin, where she is being treated for smoke inhalation. The grandmother’s boyfriend and the children’s father were treated at the scene for smoke exposure.

The two young boys were pronounced dead at the scene by the Kane County coroner’s office. The home has bedrooms in the basement but it was not disclosed if that’s where the children were at the time.

Two dogs were also found dead on the upper floor of the home, officials said.

Jayde Lewis, of Carpentersville, said she worked with the boys’ mother for about four years.

“They were very active kids, very happy babies. They brought joy to everyone,” Jayde Lewis said.

“This is very devastating, for a mom so young to lose her kids, all three kids in one day,” said Daphney “DeeDee” Lewis, Jayde’s mother, who also was a friend of the mother. “I pray for the family and hope that she and they can one day be able to move on.”

Anaszewicz estimated the damage to the house and its contents to be about $350,000.

“But as we all know, the loss of three young lives is priceless,” he said.

Carpentersville is working with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Kane County Fire Investigation Task Force and Illinois State Fire Marshal’s office. An investigation could take several weeks to complete, Anaszewicz and Shaver said.

The family was renting the home, officials said. It had working smoke detectors according to its last rental inspection in 2021.

“There was a fire like this in the early 1990s, in the same style house, by Dundee-Crown High School. Three young kids and their mom died,” Skillman said.

He was attending services at St. Monica’s Catholic Church in Carpentersville when he learned about Sunday’s fire and left early to head to the scene, Skillman said.

“We’re heartbroken for the family,” he said.

There’s been a large outpouring of support both at the home, where a makeshift memorial has been set up, and on social media. The mayor asked the public to respect the family’s privacy and to give officials time to conduct their investigations.

Kane County Coroner Monica Silva said autopsies were conducted Monday but the final results will not be available for several weeks. Her office is conducting its own independent investigation as well, she said.

Terrance “Duke” Seward, who owns Duke’s Blues-N-BBQ in East Dundee with his wife, Rhiannon, said he is working with Skillman on a fundraising effort to help the family.

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He said he heard about the fatal fire while working Sunday and knows some of the firefighters who were at the fire, and that he and his wife decided that they would organize something their nonprofit, Taste the Love.

“I pray to God that we as a community can wrap our arms around this family,” Seward said.

While what that family might need is still to be determined, Seward said they want to help the family rebuild its home.

Duke’s also holds an annual blues fest in Carpentersville in June, and they plan to dedicate the event to the three children who died. As part of the event, he will ask some of the musicians to play Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds” in the boys’ memory, he said.

Mike Danahey is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.