Mother and daughter die in Greenwood fire

A woman who loved her church and a daughter who loved her mother died early Friday in a Battle Creek house fire.

Battle Creek firefighters and police recovered bodies of the two women late Friday afternoon inside the home at 120 Greenwood Ave. after a fire was reported at 12:39 a.m.

Friends and family said Dorothy Cantrell, 85, and her daughter, Dian Cantrell, 63, died in the fire.

Dorothy Cantrell was a longtime active member of Second Missionary Baptist Church and her daughter was a former Battle Creek police officer.

Major Austin Simons of the Battle Creek Police department said autopsies will be conducted to determine the cause of death and confirm the identities.

Family and friends gathered outside the two-story house for much of Friday as investigators tried to locate the women.

The fire heavily damaged the home and Fire Chief Dave Schmaltz said the structure was unsafe to enter. Building inspectors checked the structure and determined there was a danger it might collapse. An excavator was used to demolish the rear of the house and allow fire and police to search inside. The rest of the house was demolished late Friday.

Both bodies were recovered by 3:30 p.m.

Simons said the fire department will now conduct its investigation into the cause of the fire. Fire Inspector Quincy Jones said he will conduct interviews, but the structure was never safe to inspect. One neighbor was evacuated from her house during the day because of the danger, he said.

Chief Schmaltz said fire dispatchers were called about smoke in the area and firefighters began searching for the blaze. He said the first engine found the fire and was outside the burning house four minutes after the call.

"When we pulled in there was heavy black smoke and a decent amount of fire," Schmaltz said. "We started to go through the front door and the back door."

The chief said heavy smoke, fire and a collapsing floor drove firefighters back outside.

"We just had to pull out."

Next-door neighbor Michele Buford said she and others in her house began smelling the fire and at first thought it was in their house.

They had not been alerted by any noise or calls for help.

"My friend's sister went outside and she saw the smoke and fire coming out the top of the house," she said. "We told them there were two women in there."

Schmaltz said he believes the fire had been burning for some time before it was detected, but he said it's too early in the investigation to suggest a cause.

He said portions of the roof and floors collapsed, hampering fire fighting and the search for the women.

Seventeen firefighters were at the scene, he said, and all were frustrated they were not able to reach the victims.

"Waiting goes against our personality," he said, standing outside the house hours after the fire was extinguished. "We want to try to bring some closure and healing to the family. But we are not leaving the scene. We will stay as long as we have to to watch over the victims."

Family and friends gathered at the house, waiting for officials to resume their search for the victims.

Letitia McKissic, a cousin who spoke for the family, said Dorothy Cantrell was a woman active in her church and community.

"She was in the community and she loved the kids," McKissic said. "She was 'Ma' to a whole bunch of kids. Some of those kids took off work today to say to us, 'I am with you guys.'

"She was a pint-sized woman, a stylish woman, a woman who believed her faith was on her sleeve and she was a good woman. There was nothing bad about her. She was a pint-sized bundle of joy and a mother to many.

"She was from the old school where the community helped to raise a child."

The Rev. William Wyne, pastor of Second Missionary Baptist Church at 485 N. Washington Ave., said Dorothy Cantrell had been a longtime activist in the church.

"She was super," Wyne said. "She brought me into that church and was chair of the trustees when I got there. She helped build that building.

"Dorothy Cantrell was faithful, loyal, loving and very organized. She was very thoughtful, disciplined and professional. She loved that church and she served it. "She didn't just love it with her heart but with her life."

Wyne said Cantrell worked for years in Kalamazoo for the telephone company and raised her three children alone after her husband died.

After Dorothy Cantrell had a stroke and began to suffer from Alzheimer's Disease. McKissic said Dian Cantrell moved in four years ago to begin caring for her mother.

"She would get out some and the ladies from the church would come by and visit with her and she still did Bible study."

Dian Cantrell had been a police officer from September 1988 to June 1997 and "she loved it and she missed it, McKissic said. Later Dian Cantrell worked for the Department of Defense at the Hart-Doyle-Inouye Federal Center but had been a full-time caregiver for her mother.

"This is a big loss," said Police Chief Jim Blocker, who visited the scene Friday morning. "Dian was a valued employee and a very giving and loving person. Her mother was a well-known community leader."

"Dian was patient and loving and she laughed," McKissic said. "There were nights when Dorothy would be half the night and Dian just laughed it off.

"She was unselfish," McKissic said. "She had given a lot of herself to take care of her mom.

"I am sad this happened, but I know both of them are at peace."

Call Trace Christenson at 966-0685. Follow him on Twitter: @TSChristenson.