Relative: Faulty Heater Could be to Blame for Deadly Fire

The northern Kentucky home where two adults and two children died in a fire over the weekend had a faulty kerosene heater, a family member said.

Kevin Tucker says his nephew Charlie Tucker, one of the victims, had been using a kerosene heater at the house in Berry near Cynthiana. Tucker told the Lexington Herald-Leader the heater was having problems, so Kevin Tucker offered one of his heaters, but his nephew never took it.

“I’d preached to him about that heater,” Kevin Tucker said.

Charlie Tucker, 31; his cousin Nikki Pike, 27; and two of her sons, Cameron Pike, 6, and Nicholas Pike, 3, were killed in the blaze. Each of the boys is survived by a twin.

Berry Fire Chief Orla Whitaker says the fire was likely caused by a kerosene heater in one of the downstairs bedrooms.

Kentucky Fire Marshal William Swope Jr. said such tragedies are “sickening” and “deflating.” They can happen to anyone, he said, but “a lot of times the attitude persists: ‘It’ll never happen to me.”‘

On Friday in Woodford County, Ronnie Jo Graham, 3, and Lidia Graham, 7, died in a house fire. A family member said she believed the source is thought to be electrical.

After Sunday’s fire in Berry, Kevin Tucker said he ran from his home in his stocking feet, looking frantically for Nikki Pike’s van.

“I was praying to God that they weren’t there,” he said of the family.

When he saw the parked van, he knew the family was inside. The two-story house fell in just as he arrived.

Two of Pike’s four children _ 3-year-old Martha and 6-year-old Martin _ were staying with their grandparents Karen and Harold Pike during the fire.

Nikki Pike’s family had to break the news about the deaths to Martha and Martin, but “they ain’t really old enough to understand what’s going on,” Kevin Tucker said.