Toddler Dies in Arlington House Fire Early Sunday

Lily Condron would have turned 2 years old on day of deadly fire

An Arlington family mourned the death of a toddler in a house fire on the day she would have turned 2 years old.

The fire broke out in the 1200 block of Land Rush Drive in North Arlington at about 1:30 a.m. Sunday. Condron's parents, grandparents and older brother were able to escape.

Arlington fire investigators said on Monday that they believe the fire was sparked by an electrical device next to Condron's mattress. Lt. Kevin Seeton would only say investigators are looking into all of the devices in the girl's room.

Firefighters knew they had a toddler to rescue when they got the call, Battalion Chief Randy Schmelz said on Sunday.

"They start by upgrading it to a second alarm on those kinds of reports," he said. "It's just very manpower-intensive because the first crews ... their mission is to save."

"We had heavy fire conditions coming from the front of the house, which was the room where the fire started," he said. "Crews immediately went in and searched and discovered the body of the child."

Condron's great-uncle, Chris Brister, was at the house Sunday evening to sift through the damage and try to pick stuff up for the family.

"It's pretty difficult," he said. "It's really hurting the family quite a bit. They're going through a lot right now."

He described Condron as a "real nice 2-year-old going through 2-year-old things."

Brister last remembered seeing her playing at his home when she visited a couple of months ago, saying he remembered her smile.

Neighbors were saddened to hear of Condron's death.

"So I'm just now learning that a baby died, and we're very sad about this," Yvonne Grass, who lives two houses down from the family, said Sunday morning.

"When I saw the firetrucks, I was immediately thinking about the kids," said Sai Selvarajan, who lives across the street. "Seeing the house, I thought they probably were OK, but to hear that the kid died is really sad. ... I have a kid, too, and it's going to be tough to deal with this."

"I hope, as a street, we can all come and do something for them," Selvarajan said. "It's just really tough."

NBC 5's Ray Villeda contributed to this report.

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