Journal-News.com

By Dave Greber

Staff Writer

HAMILTON — Jason "Jake" Fields was likely asleep with his dog early Wednesday morning, Jan. 7, when the smoke from the fire that killed him started in his living room, fire officials said.

Neighbors called 911 at approximately 6:35 a.m. Wednesday and reported smoke coming from Fields' home, 521 Rockford Drive.

Upon arrival, firefighters quickly extinguished the flames, but said the house was heavily filled with smoke, which indicates a smoldering fire, according to Hamilton Fire Investigator Tom Angst.

Fire investigators said Fields, 32, was found in his boxers in the hallway just eight feet from his bed. Fields' dog, a boxer, was also found dead in the bedroom. No one else was at the home when the fire started, Angst said.

"It looked like he threw back the covers and tried to get out and didn't make it," Angst said. "He basically got out of his bedroom door."

Angst said Fields was a heavy smoker, and that early investigations showed the fire likely began on a couch in his living room of his ranch-style home. He also said the home was equipped with smoke detectors, and that the devices held batteries. Whether the batteries were functional, though, remains in question.

"I've ruled out everything except careless smoking," Angst said.

The Butler County Coroner's office said preliminary findings suggest Fields died of smoke inhalation, although he also sustained minor burns. They're also looking into whether alcohol was a factor in the fire.

"I have one report that he was drinking last night," Angst said.

Hamilton Fire Chief Joseph Schutte said emergency responders were quick to pull Fields from the burning home upon their arrival, perform CPR and transport him to The Fort Hamilton Hospital. But hospital officials later told members of the fire department Fields had died.

"He was a nice man," said Rosa Conley, who has lived across the street from Fields for the past two years. "He would help anybody, and do anything for anybody. But he was kind of a wild guy."

Another neighbor said she was out walking her dog at approximately 6 a.m. and didn't see or smell anything.

Throughout the morning, as the scent of smoke still clung to the flurry-filled air, neighbors walking along Rockford Drive inquired about "Jake" and uttered gasps of disbelief when they were told he had died.

Field's death is the first fire-related fatality in Hamilton since 12-year-old DeMarcus Thomas was killed in a fire in his Hueston Street home Dec. 12, Schutte said.

Thomas, an Adams Elementary sixth-grader and a linebacker for the Little Blue football team, also died of smoke inhalation.