Grieving community reacts to deaths

WAKEMAN — A disruption that occurred during a Wakeman Fire District board meeting Wednesday caused the meeting to end after roughly 30 minutes. Nick Senghas, the father of Zoey Senghas, 12, who died in a house fire last month, was giving a presentation to the board, accusing the fire department of negligence. About 50 other people were in attendance. Senghas, however, only made it through a few slides of the presentation before shouting ensued between him, the people in attendance, Wakeman firefighters and their families. A recording of the 9-1-1 call placed when the house fire broke out was played during the meeting. The call was made by Senghas' 7-year-old son, Brady, who escaped the fire by climbing through a window. The fire also killed Zoey and Brady's mother, Cynthia Jackson, 43. Senghas said he has to live with the memories of the fire every day. "I've got nothing left to lose," Senghas said. "I've already lost the thing that's most important to me." Fire board chairman Dale Daniels said the 9-1-1 call was upsetting to his officers. He ended the meeting and told everyone to leave the fire department when the audience could not settle down. Before Senghas gave his presentation, Cynthia's sister Kari Jackson read a statement to those in attendance. "You were not willing to do what you signed up for," Jackson said to the group. "What is the point of saving a home when there's no one left to live there." She called on firefighters who responded to the fire to resign if they weren't willing to do their jobs. Both Jackson and Senghas have criticized responding firemen for not entering the house when they were called to the scene. "Did you forget how to do your jobs?" Jackson asked the firemen in attendance. Fire Chief David Wilson could not be reached for comment on Thursday. But, he said previously the family was "well known" to the department and that Jackson's father was a firefighter for over 40 years. He has since passed, but he took his daughter and her children to the fire department functions over the years, he said.