Parents of 2-year-old killed in house fire recount attempts to save their son

By Megan Shinn

Click here for updates on this story

    Pennsylvania (KDKA) — Still recovering from third-degree burns and smoke inhalation, parents who lost their two-year-old in a Butler County house fire said they risked their lives to try to save him.

At a bench near Mount Nebo Church, 24-year-old Alex Umbaugh and 24-year-old Melina Bryner sat down to share what’s left.

“It’s hard to look at the baby pictures,” said Bryner. Photos on a phone show their son, Jesse Umbaugh. “It just kind of reminds me that his life was just gone way too fast.”

The two-year-old died during a fire in their mobile home on Old Route 422 in Clearfield Township on the morning of March 8. Now, the third-degree burns show the parents’ fight to rescue their son.

“I took a shirt hanging in the closet, around my face, and I tried to crawl through the living room to get to him or the other door and open it, and I couldn’t,” Umbaugh said.

“I ran back in another time. I couldn’t get past the living room area, it was too hot, so I ran outside. I was screaming for the neighbors, I smashed in the bay window, I thought I was going to climb in through there, but I couldn’t,” Bryner recounted.

She said they were getting out of bed, they heard Jesse go into the living room, and that’s when they heard a sound.

“We heard an explosion, smoke kind of puffed into our room around the door, and when we opened it, it was just black,” said Bryner.

After trying to rescue Jesse, the parents were flown to the hospital.

“I couldn’t focus on anything but Jesse in that moment, you know,” Bryner said.

She said she was taken to Mercy Hospital while her fiancé was flown to West Penn.

“We got life-flighted out of there pretty quickly,” said Bryner.

Then, Bryner got a call from Umbaugh, saying her blue-eyed, blonde-haired mini-me was gone.

“I still love him to death, and I wish was here,” Bryner said.

The focus of their world was no longer there.

“He was the sweetest, he was happy, he was so smart and loved other people everywhere we went,” said Bryner.

She said the fire marshal found the cause.

“They said it was an electrical fire, and it smoldered in the walls for about 10 hours before it caught fire,” Bryner added. “There was absolutely nothing that we could’ve done.”

Since then, the community has donated to the family left with nothing.

“I just want to tell everybody ‘thank you’ for all the love and support,” Bryner said.

Now, an impossible wish to see their son again is all that’s left for these two parents.

“I love him. I’ll always love him,” said Bryner.

“(I’d) tell him I love him, [and] give him a big hug again,” Umbaugh added.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.