A makeshift memorial of flowers and stuffed animals emerged Tuesday morning in front of the house where Vancouver’s deadliest modern-day fire occurred two days earlier. But while residents of Northeast 13th Place mourned the family they believed perished in the fire, police officials said such presumptions on the victims’ identities were premature.
Police are waiting on the Clark County Medical Examiner’s Office to complete autopsies on the deceased before releasing their names. Medical examiners had to refer to dental records to identify the badly burned bodies.
Arson investigators finished processing evidence at the scene Monday. There is no timeline on when the fire’s origin and cause will be determined, Vancouver Police spokeswoman Kim Kapp said. Investigators do not believe the suspected arsonist is at large.
Tuan and Lori Dao owned the house at 15304 N.E. 13th Circle, according to court papers from September 2010. Neighbors and family friends confirmed Lori Dao and her eldest daughter, Alena, 13, were not home at the time of the fire.
That no official word has been released has not stopped residents from fearing the worst.
In addition to yellow daffodils, pink carnations and brown teddy bears, the memorial along a swiftly erected chain-link fence included a white piece of paper that listed names and ages of five children believed to have perished in the fire.
The paper contained the words “in memory of,” with an arrow pointing to the children’s names and ages — Nolan (11), Noah (9), Jacob (9), Samantha (7) and Nathan (6). The note was signed “From Friends at Harthwood (sic).”
Neighborhood residents and family friends believe Tuan Dao also perished in the fire. A neighbor’s surveillance footage showed a man driving a white Toyota Corolla into the driveway around 12:38 a.m. Sunday. One hour later, residents reported hearing a loud noise and then seeing high, arching flames shooting from the house. The car remains in the driveway.
Police refused to confirm or deny rumors swirling around the neighborhood about who died in the fire.
“We cannot speculate and cannot put anything out we can’t confirm,” Kapp said, noting investigators had to “go with absolutes.”
Tuan Dao’s family declined comment Tuesday morning. A male family member said they were “mourning” and asked for others to respect their privacy. Tuan Dao’s anguished mother added, “That was my son, you know?” She broke down in tears before closing the door.
Based on the children’s address, the Evergreen School District made grief counselors available to students at Hearthwood Elementary, Harmony Elementary and Pacific Middle schools Tuesday. The four youngest Dao children switched from Hearthwood to Harmony six weeks ago. The two oldest children attended Pacific Middle School.
District officials have not received notification the children died in the fire, spokeswoman Carol Fenstermacher said.
Residents of Northeast 13th Circle also struggled to understand the tragedy.
Carole Kumanchik lives across the street from the Dao family. Prior to Tuesday, her view of their charred home was blocked by fire and police vehicles used to assist in the investigation.
As she stood outside her front door, she saw a skeleton of the home she remembered. Bedroom areas were now open expanses, home to piles of soot stacked four feet high. Wooden boards were placed over the garage and a window at the front of the home. An aluminum fence prevented outsiders from getting too close.
The memorial provided Kumanchik no comfort. It only made her reflect more on the nightmare she lived through Sunday morning.
She was awake when she heard a noise like a car crash. She went outside expecting to find a damaged SUV in her driveway, but instead found her neighbors’ home in flames. She had seen Tuan Dao just hours earlier.
“There wasn’t a damn thing we could do,” Kumanchik said. “I knew he was in there. That was what was so horrifying.”
Kumanchik recalled the Dao family always coming and going. The children played soccer and took karate lessons. When the parents were not home, their grandparents took care of them, Kumanchik said.
But the “normal” family Kumanchik described was not without problems.
The Daos filed for bankruptcy last year with $158,000 in credit card debt, according to court records. The paperwork also disclosed $2,000 in gambling losses. They owed $262,000 on the home that burned. The home was valued at $179,000.
Earlier this year, the family loaded its belongings into a moving unit, seemingly never to return. But Tuan Dao, who worked for FedEx in Portland, returned to the house in recent weeks. His wife, an employee of US Bank in Vancouver, did not, according to neighbors and family friends.
Neither filed for divorce, Clark County records show.
Theories about how the fire started are just as prevalent on Northeast 13th Circle as rumors about who died. But residents noted the sense of loss they felt would not change as more facts about the fire became known.
“It’s such a sad tragedy whether you know them or not,” neighbor Kathy Larsen said. “There’s just an overall sadness, regardless of how or why this happened, that it happened to begin with.”
Kumanchik talked about moving. The ruins across the street send her mind to a dark place.
She stole one final glance of the wreckage before walking back inside her home.
“Stunning,” she said, shaking her head as the word reverberated in the gloomy morning air.
Erin Middlewood of The Columbian contributed to this story.
