Clues sought in house fire that killed 5

STAMFORD, Conn.?? Investigators were talking to a New York City advertising executive and an acquaintance who survived a Christmas morning house fire that killed her three daughters and her parents to try to determine what caused the blaze.

Madonna Badger, who was having work done on the home she bought for $1.7 million last year, was released from hospital Monday.

The home was demolished Monday due to the fire damage and safety concerns.

Badger's three daughters ? a 10-year-old and 7-year-old twins ? and her parents, who were visiting for the holiday, died.

Badger's father, Lomer Johnson, had worked as a Santa at Saks Fifth Avenue's flagship store in Manhattan. "Mr. Johnson was Saks Fifth Avenue's beloved Santa, and we are heartbroken about this terrible tragedy," spokeswoman Julia Bently said.

Neighbors said they awoke to the sound of screaming shortly before 5 a.m. on Christmas morning and rushed outside to help, but they could only watch in horror as flames devoured the grand home and the shocked, injured survivors were led away from the house.

Badger, an ad executive in the fashion industry, is the founder of New York City-based Badger & Winters Group. A supervisor at Stamford Hospital said she was treated and discharged by Sunday evening.

The fire might have been related to a fireplace on the first floor, a source familiar with the case told NBCNewYork.com.

Property records show she bought the five-bedroom, waterfront home for $1.7 million last year. The house is situated in Shippan Point, a wealthy neighborhood that juts into Long Island Sound.

The male acquaintance who also escaped the blaze was a contractor who was doing work on the home, Stamford police Sgt. Paul Guzda said. He was also hospitalized but his condition was not released.

"It is a terrible, terrible day," Mayor Michael Pavia told reporters at the scene of the fire on Sunday. "There probably has not been a worse Christmas day in the city of Stamford."

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The Stamford Advocate identified the contractor as a male friend named Michael Borcina.

Police officers drove Badger's husband, Matthew Badger, from New York City to Stamford on Sunday morning. The Badgers reportedly are separated.

Firefighters knew there were other people in the home but could not get to them because the flames were too large and the heat too intense, said Acting Fire Chief Antonio Conte, his voice cracking with emotion.

"It's never easy. That's for sure," he said. "I've been on this job 38 years ... not an easy day."

A neighbor who lives across the street, Sam Cingari Jr., said he was awakened by the sound of screaming and saw that the house was engulfed by flames.

"We heard this screaming at 5 in the morning," he said. "The whole house was ablaze and I mean ablaze."

He told The Advocate that he later learned the screams were coming from Madonna Badger.

"The reason she was screaming, of course, was because her family was inside the house," he said.

Cingari said he did not know his neighbors, who he said bought the house last year and were renovating it.

Charles Mangano, who lives nearby, said his wife woke him up and alerted him to the fire. He ran outside to see if he could help and saw fire trucks in front of the house.

"I heard someone yell 'Help, help, help me!' and I started sprinting up my driveway," Mangano told The Advocate.

He told the newspaper he saw a barefoot man wearing boxers and a T-shirt with no shoes and a woman being taken out of the house.

Video: Conn. house fire kills 5 on Christmas (on this page)

The woman said, "My whole life is in there," Mangano said. "They were both obviously in a state of shock."

The house was undergoing heavy construction last summer, he told The Advocate.

Badger's father known as 'Happy Santa'
Badger's parents, Lomer and Pauline Johnson, were going to celebrate their 49th anniversary on Monday, a family member told The New York Times. Lomer Johnson, 71, had spent Saturday working as Santa Claus at Saks Fifth Avenue, a gig he had been doing since retiring as a safety director for the parent company of Jack Daniels.

The man with the long white beard loved posing as Santa, said the relative, who asked not to be named.

?That?s all he ever wanted to be,? the family member told The Times. ?He stopped shaving the day he retired.?

He advertised his services through a site called gigmasters.com, where he referred to himself as "Happy Santa." His profile reads "I am now a santa because my oldest granddaughter asked me to be a pretend Santa Claus. I have enjoyed it more than any job I've ever had."

Lomer Johnson also formerly worked to prevent fires as safety chief at a company in Kentucky.
He was remembered as a stickler for safety details by a former boss at the Louisville, Ky., liquor maker Brown-Forman Corp., where he retired as safety and security director years ago.

Former Brown-Forman executive Robert Holmes Jr. said Monday it was Johnson's job to keep plant workers safe. He says Johnson's responsibilities included planning fire drills.

Stamford, a city of 117,000 residents, is about 25 miles northeast of New York City.

Badger was the creative mind behind major advertising campaigns for leading fashion brands, including the iconic Mark Wahlberg underwear ads for Calvin Klein.

Raised in Kentucky, Badger began her career working as a graphic designer in the art department of Esquire magazine. Before starting her own company, she worked as an art director for several magazines and CRK, the in-house advertising agency for designer Calvin Klein.

Badger & Winters has worked with Proctor & Gamble, CoverGirl, A/X Armani Exchange, Emanuel Ungaro and Vera Wang, among other high-profile corporations.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45787994/ns/us_news-life/

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