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A RETURN TO MUD FORK - Cause Of Fire That Killed Four Still Unknown |
| (03/11/2013) |
 2013 - Mud Fork-Stinson in Calhoun County has been a place sufficiently away from the world not to be noticed by most, but this year a tragic fire that killed a grandmother and three young children brought it attention. A 57-year-old grandmother Darlene Gooslin, 57, and her grandchildren, Ryan 7, Patricia 6, and Aryanne Jackson 5, didn't survived. The children's father, Benjamin Jackson, 35, and his brother David Jackson, 40, managed to escape with burns, and were treated at a Huntington burn center. The tragedy was the first such incident with so many victims in Calhoun County in at least 50 years. Officials said there were no fire detectors in the dwelling. The early morning fire struck the mobile home, sweeping through the structure and trapping the victims, with the father of the children and his brother barely escaping, suffering from burns. Still scattered among the remnants of the fire are clothes, household items and the children's toys. The WV State Fire Marshal Reed Cook said, "At the present time, the fire is listed as undetermined, but there is still an ongoing investigation." After Benjamin Jackson, the father of the three children, was released from a burn center, police arrested him on his way to attend the funeral of his mother and children. He was charged with possession of a controlled substance, authorities saying they found 15 grams of meth, coffee filters and a smoking device on his person. Jackson told a TV reporter he's hurt and upset by the speculation that drugs led to the fire. When asked if there was any drug activity in the home, he said, "No, there was nothing like that around my kids." During the last decade, fire departments have responded to numerous blazes on the creek, usually during late night hours, with suspicions high that meth cooking was the cause. Meth cooking has generally been replaced by the "shake and bake" method. Stinson Grocery proprietor Verla Longfellow said, "They were beautiful and well-behaved children," who often came to the store with their grandmother. "It has broken this community's heart," she said.
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