Whose family has been in the buisness of cremation for years.
I told him the basics of the story and he told me I am allowed to post his responses on this board.
Here first is what I wrote to him reguarding this:
Back in 1945, on Christmas Eve, a house in Fayetteville, West Virginia burned to the ground. Believed to still be in the house were five siblings. A fourteen year old boy, his twelve year old sister, their brother who was nine years old that day, (it was his birthday), an eight year old sister, and a five year old sister. The next morning, the fire department finally showed up, and had to pour cold water on the ground as the ground was still hot. They searched but could find nothing but a few pieces of organs and a couple of bones.
The Sodder family has been torn apart ever since, becoming convinced that the fire was set and the children stolen. Their father put up a $10,000 reward and a huge billboard, talked to magazines and went everywhere searching literally until the week of his death. Very sad. I am trying to help, and the first thing I need to know is whether or not it is possible for five children to die in this fire, with almost nothing left. The house was burned to the ground.
Any may I please post your response?
If you could answer my question it is greatly appreciated.
Thank you for your time and consideration,
Carla
His Answers to Me :::
[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']Dear Carla,[/font]
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[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']I took some time to research this story since I was not familiar with it and you are right, it is truly a sad story.[/font]
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[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']I am not sure how we can help, however I am assuming you are contacting us due to the relationship of the fire and cremation. Consider this information on cremation: Cremation is completed in a confined chamber, usually made of a special brick, which reaches a constant temperature of 15 to 1800 degrees F. Cremation of an adult can take at least 2 hours within that environment and then time for the bone fragment to cool. After a cremation is complete, some bone fragment are still recognizable for an adult. However with children you need to consider that the bone density of a child is less and can take a shorter time to cremated within that confined environment. [/font]
[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']There might be many circumstances that I am not aware of that might have some influence on what happened, size of the house, how hot the fire was, other flammable sources, where the children were in the house, etc.. [/font]
[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']Here are a couple of observations: [/font]
[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']You would have to consider how long it took the house to burn and at what temperature the fire reached and for how long it stayed at that temperature.[/font]
[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']Since bone is more dense than our organs then finding an organ should lead to finding bone fragments[/font]
[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']Were the children in the center of the fire at the hottest temperature?[/font]
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[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']I am not sure if this information helps or if I was able to answer any questions. [/font]
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[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']If you have any other questions please let me know.[/font]
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[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']Sincerely,[/font]
[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif'] [/font]
[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']Brad Bishop[/font]
[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']Director of Operations[/font]
