It was one of the deadliest fires in Iowa history, and prompted sweeping changes in the way fire departments train.
Shortly after 8 in the morning on December 22nd, 1999, fire broke out in Melissa Cooper's Keokuk apartment, one of three in a century-old two-story house. She was awakened by her 4-year-old son Jacob, who said there was a fire. She and Jacob escaped, and fire fighters soon arrived to put out the fire and rescue Melissa's other three children.
They rescued her 2-year-old twins, Robert and Rebecca, but they died a short time later. Three fire fighters re-entered the building to save 7-year-old Jessica, but they were caught in a deadly flashover. The body of one of the fire fighters was found on the first floor of the building. The bodies of the other two were found on the second floor. One of them had little Jessica in his arms. The fire that killed three children and three fire fighters was caused by food left on a kitchen stove.
In its 120-year history, the Keokuk Fire Department had never experienced a line-of-duty death. Then three of the department's 19 full-time members died in a single morning--Dave McNally, Jason Bitting, and Nate Tuck.
The fire was used in nationwide training for other departments, in hopes that lessons learned from the Iowa tragedy could save other lives. But despite training and best efforts, six lives...those of three fire fighters and three children were lost in Keokuk, on this date in 1999.