Updated 04/13/2012 06:09 PM
Mother Arrested in Connection with Fatal Grape Street Fire
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The mother of four children killed in a fire back in February has been charged with arson and four counts of manslaughter, according to Chief John Caufield of the Rochester Fire Department.
Bobbie Kugler, 31, will be arraigned Saturday morning at 9:30.
Kugler is the mother of Gage Reavey, 14, Greg Kugler, 13, his sister Kandee, 12, and brother Kaiden, 6. All were all killed in the fire.
Bobbie Kugler was one of five people that survived the fire. Firefighters say James Austin, 25, a family friend; Waltquaries Evans, 15; and Giovanni Delorm, 13, all escaped by jumping out of a second floor window. Bobbie Kugler and her two-year-old son, Tyron Jackson, were rescued by firefighters.
Fire officials said Kugler was arrested in the Poughkeepsie area.
"This was not an accidental fire," Caufield said Friday afternoon.
Caufield said the fire was so intense it prevented firefighters from getting to the second floor of the home to rescue the four kids trapped inside.
Firefighters were originally called to the home for a report of a rubbish fire outside the house, but a check of the home turned up flames and smoke coming from the first floor.
"It’s a sad day in the fact that we’re charging a woman in having a hand in the deaths of her four children," said Deputy Chief Mike Wood. "We’re about searching for the truth, and we continue to do that."
Wood said the investigation continues.
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