DAYTON - In the early hours of the morning last Thursday, Tia Gore was making her five-year-old daughter a birthday cake.

Together with her eightyear old son, Gore and her daughter were planning to mark the occasion of her birth later that day. It was an easy day for the family to remember because it came shortly after they moved into their rental home at 1013 South Third just before the girl was born.

As she was working on the cake, Gore suddenly heard a loud pop in the kitchen and the wall burst into flames.

"My first thought was 'my kids,' " said Gore, who used to be employed at the Dayton...