Two children found dead in ashes of Roy fire; meth link suspected

ROY, Pierce County — The bodies of two children were found in a burned-out mobile home yesterday when hot spots subsided enough to allow firefighters access.

Authorities suspected the blaze was related to the making of methamphetamine.

A 14-year-old girl and a 2½-year-old boy died in the Roy fire late Wednesday, Pierce County sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer said. Three other people were injured.

The boy's father, 24, was in serious condition at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with burns and smoke-inhalation injuries. The 14-year-old was the daughter of the man's sister, who was jailed recently in a meth-lab case, Troyer said.

There were two other children in the double-wide trailer when the fire struck: an 18-month-old boy and a 13-year-old girl. Both were treated at an Olympia hospital and released.

When the trailer with wooden additions caught fire, firefighters discovered there was no hydrant nearby and had to use a tanker truck overnight to put out the blaze, Troyer said

The cause of the fire remained under investigation.

Possibilities included wiring and old stoves, and investigators were looking into neighbors' claims that there had been meth-related activity at the home, Troyer said.

Pierce County is the epicenter of meth production in Washington state. In 2000, officials reported more than 540 drug-lab cleanups in the county, the most for any county in the state.

The labs use volatile chemicals to produce the drug.

In 1999, Pierce County officials reported 13 fires or explosions caused by meth labs. That same year in adjoining Thurston County, a meth-lab explosion killed two people at a rural home south of Tumwater.