Fire victim was daughter of 9/11 pilot [Chick Burlingame's daughter]

Jersey Journal ^ | 12/06/06 | unattributed

[shhrubbery!]

Guttenberg victim was daughter of 9/11 pilot
The woman killed in this morning's fire at the Galaxy Towers was the daughter of the pilot of the hijacked jet that crashed into the Pentagon on 9/11, authorities said this afternoon.

Wendy Burlingame, 32, was the daughter of Charles F. Burlingame III, who was the pilot of American Airlines Flight 77 on Sept. 11, 2001. Terrorists took control of the plane and flew it into the Pentagon, killing all 59 people on board and 125 people on the ground.

She was found dead in her apartment, apparently of smoke inhalation, after a fire started inside her bedroom sometime Monday night. Fire officials said Burlingame and her boyfriend attempted to douse the fire using water from a sink, but it quickly spread out of control. The boyfriend made it out of the apartment, but the door closed and locked behind him and he couldn't get back inside. Burlingame and her two dogs -- identified by the Humane Society as a 4-year-old female pitbull and a 3-month-old pitbull puppy -- were found dead inside.

[shhrubbery!]

Very sad. Wendy must have been Debra Burlingame's niece. Condolences to Debra and to all the Burlingame family.

More complete article here (could not post due to copyright rules):
Fire claims life of daughter of airline pilot killed on 9/11

[rabidralph]

How awful. I'm sorry the boyfriend couldn't have helped her out as he made his way to safety.

[veronica]

How awful...

[Cagey]

I heard about this tragedy on this morning's news.

Here's more from Newsday:

Wendy Burlingame's death was being investigated as a suspicious death, according to Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio.

Her live-in boyfriend, whose name was not released by authorities, was also in the apartment when the fire started shortly before midnight Monday, investigators said.

According to investigators, the boyfriend told them that he and Burlingame had tried to extinguish the fire with water from a sink. When tried to flee, the boyfriend made it into the hallway, but accidentally shut and locked the front door before realizing that Burlingame was not right behind him. He wasn't able to get back in.

As firefighters rushed into the 44-story building to put out the blaze, the building resident assigned as fire warden for the night found the boyfriend outside the apartment door, visibly shaken, and led him to safety.

[jwparkerjr]

How very sad. This is the second lesson taught by events this week. The first was that when you are stranded by a broken down car or plane crash, stay put! The lesson here is never fight a fire! Get out and sound the alarm, and stay out!

I certainly don't mean to be critical of any of the victims in either of these sad events, but the lessons are clear.

Prayers for the families in both situations.

[LWalk18]

It sounds like that they may not believe the boyfriend's story.

[God luvs America]

horrible, especially for the family...but hopefully she's with her dad...

Debra Burlingame was one of the podium speakers at our Freep against the NY Slimes in July...

[JerseyJohn61]

Terrible News. My heart goes out to all involved and
it seems to hit home in a personal way. We've seen all
the interviews and know of all the good work Debra
Burlingame has been doing. Painful tragedy just seems
to follow some families....JJ61

[Frapster]

It sounds suspicious to me.

[Grig]

Yeah, it supposed to be women and children FIRST.

[OldFriend]

A bit of a discrepancy between this account and one on another forum. Other story says the door shut and locked behind him. Not that he shut and locked the door.

Unless the door self locked when closed there will be hell to pay.

[OldFriend]

you have freepmail

[metmom]

Yeah, it supposed to be women and children FIRST.

Thanks to the feminazis, we now have a whole generation or so of males who probably never even heard that phrase. Now, not only is chivalry almost dead but common courtesy is almost non-existent; it's every man for himself.

[leilani]

My front door locks automatically & it's not necessarily odd that he would think to take his key with him before escaping.

Could it be possible that the door slammed itself shut between him & Wendy with the differential in heat/air pressure between the apt & hall? Don't fires create a kind of vacuum?(Sincere questions - I know nothing whatsoever about the subject.)

Whatever happened, I suspect the boyfriend will be haunted by this for the rest of his life.

The immense tragedies that have been visited upon this family are so horrific as to be almost unspeakable.

[OldFriend]

Many doors do swing shut and lock automatically. To stop and lock the door in the case of an out of control fire is not normal.

We will find out soon enough. This is such a tragedy for this family.

[CT]

Mark Levin, The Great One, has the New York Times coverage of this. It seems the NYT called a surviving relative to get their reaction. Only problem was the relative had NO IDEA of the death.

What a class act, bast*rds.

[shhrubbery!]

Mark Levin, The Great One, has the New York Times coverage of this. It seems the NYT called a surviving relative to get their reaction. Only problem was the relative had NO IDEA of the death.

Where did you hear this, CT? On the Mark Levin show last night? Guess I missed a lot of his show yesterday, didn't see the news until this morning.

[CT]

Not on Mark's show, but his blog at National Review.