Staff Photo by Tim Barber/Chattanooga Times Free Press
Edward Woodgett, right, talks about what he saw as a fire broke out next to his Maude Street home shortly after noon Saturday. Reva Moore, left, listens to the witness account. The house is seen to the right of Woodgett.A few small baby toys were found intact Saturday inside the Maude Street house where a deadly blaze took the life of 14-month-old Destiny Jackson and critically injured her brother and her mother’s best friend, who was baby-sitting.
Destiny’s mom, Deidra Jarrett, couldn’t bear to look when her mother — Destiny’s grandmother — plucked one of the child’s toys from the debris.
“Destiny was my little princess,” Jarrett said through tears, standing outside her house. Her daughter died before she reached Erlanger. Her 21/2-year-old son, Antonio Jackson, was in critical condition at T.C. Thompson Children’s Hospital, and her best friend, Brandy Curry, was in critical condition and on her way to the Joseph M. Still Burn Center in Augusta, Ga., officials said.
The fire at 70 Maude St. happened about 11 a.m. About an hour later, another blaze claimed a life. Chattanooga police initially said Carla Nolan, of 1514 Ely Road, died after a candle set her clothes on fire. Later, officers said the fire could have been caused by a malfunctioning cigarette lighter.
Damage in the Ely Road fire was confined to a small part of the house.