By JAMIE BUSEN
Herald-Whig Staff Writer
LABELLE, Mo. -- Kiri Scull stood near her still-smoldering house and wept as she talked about hearing her young son's cries for help before he died in an early-morning fire Sunday.
Scull, 23, was burned and cut as she tried to retrieve 22-month-old Dadn Smith from his bedroom. She carried her 3-year-old son to safety outside and tried to return for Dadn, but couldn't get through.
"He was screaming for me. I tried to get to him but the fire pushed me back," she said. "His window exploded. And he stopped screaming."
Lewis County emergency response agencies responded to a 911 call of a house fire at 307 Liberty in LaBelle at 12:40 a.m. Sunday. Fire departments arrived to find the one-story home in the community of 669 people fully engulfed in flames, with part of the roof already collapsed.
"It would have been impossible to make an entry," LaBelle Fire Chief Greg Doscher said.
Doscher said firefighters were able to get the blaze under control in 10 minutes and extinguished within 30 minutes. Around 20 firefighters battled the fire, including Dadn's uncle.
The body of Dadn Smith was discovered at 5:25 a.m. Coroner Larry Arnold said an autopsy is scheduled for today in Columbia, standard procedure for a child's death in Missouri.
Sunday afternoon, family and friends surrounded Scull as they stood outside the home and propped stuffed animals up on the children's trampoline. The siding on houses on either side of the Scull home melted from the fire's intense heat.
Scull said she was asleep when her dog, Brittle, jumped up on her bed, biting and barking at her. She then smelled smoke and ran to the living room, where Brittle was covering 3-year-old Kidn Smith with his body on the couch.
"The ceiling just kept falling," she said.
Scull said she bought the three-bedroom home about 18 months ago. She lived in the house with her two children. Two cars at the scene also were destroyed.
The family was supposed to be at a birthday party for Kidn in Quincy on Sunday. The children's father, Daniel Dean, was on the scene Sunday.
Scull's mother, Tresh Smith, stood with her arm around her daughter. Smith said Scull was sedated earlier in the day, and that a local hairdresser came to the scene to cut Scull's charred hair.
"The community has been extremely supportive already," Smith said.
A donation fund for the family has been set up at the Bank of Monticello.
Scull and Kidn also need clothing. She wears a size 9 pants, 6 shoe and medium or large in T-shirts and sweatshirts. The toddler wears 5T and size 10 in baby shoes.
Funeral arrangements for Dadn are pending at the Coder Funeral Chapel.
"We all feel terrible for the family in this community," Lewis County Sheriff David Parrish said. "We want to do everything we can to help the family get through this time."
-- jbusen@whig.com/221-3385
