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Child Dies In Topeka House Fire
Monday, October 28, 2019

(TOPEKA) - An 8 year old girl died following a house fire in Topeka Friday evening.

It happened at a two story home at 215 West Pine Street in Topeka around 7:16 PM. Topeka Fire Chief Stuart Bender says the fire broke out in the front upstairs bedroom.

8 year old Melody Gangwer was trapped in the rear bedroom of the home of her father, Preston Gangwer. Her mother is Calysta Myers.

It took firefighters 25 minutes to bring the flames under control. There was no fire damage in the rear bedroom but Melody was found unconscious due to the heavy smoke.

Firefighters performed CPR and Parkview medics transported her to Parkview LaGrange Hospital. She was flown from there to Riley Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis where she died.

Other family members were downstairs at the time of the fire and were not injured.

Topeka fire crews were assisted by Shipshewana Fire
Department, the Topeka Police Department and the LaGrange County Sheriff’s Office.

Ruth Edick has organized a GoFundMe drive to raise money for funeral expenses, medical expenses, and securing a home for the family. As of early this morning it had raised just over $2,000 towards a goal of $30,000.



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