'Who couldn't love those boys?' Mason City community grieves loss of 4 children in fire

MASON CITY ― Surrounded by collages and portraits of his four sons, John McLuer stood on the stage of the flower-filled Lincoln Intermediate School auditorium, looking out at the crowd of about 200.

He thanked the gathered family, friends, teachers and community members, but said their endless generosity and kindness could not fill the void in his heart.

"I just wish my boys were here now," the burly, bearded, 55-year-old said in a voice made soft with grief.

The community joined him and his family Wednesday to mark one of the most tragic events in Mason City's recent history: the funeral for his and wife Angela's boys, who died Nov. 16 when an early morning blaze tore through their home.

In an interview before the funerals, McLuer, a cast on his right arm covering third-degree burns, recalled the terrible night. He said he awakened around 5 a.m. to the blare of fire alarms. Peering out his door, he said, he saw the hallway filing up with smoke.

More:Third Des Moines metro fire in less than 2 weeks kills dog in apartment

"Fire!" he remembers yelling to his children. His first thought, he said, was to try to get them out of the house.

McLuer made it outside along with daughter Ravan, 11. He said he ran back inside the burning house once he realized the boys were still inside, but was blown out of through a window before he could reach them.

John-Mikal Jr., 12; Odin-Thor, 10; Drako-Ragnar, 6; and Phenix-Moon, 3, all perished. Also killed was the children's dog, Frodie. Investigators said the fire started in a power strip.

On Wednesday afternoon, McLuer told the mourners he felt his boys' presence, even if they were no longer physically with him.

"I know in spirit they're here," he said. "I can feel it."

Boys remembered as loving and smiling

Deacon Regan Banks, the youth director at North Iowa Youth Center, led Wednesday's service, calling upon teachers and family friends to come forward and share their recollections of the McLuer boys.

Repeatedly, the mourners said the children were always smiling and full of love.

"These boys had smiles that made you smile right back," a representative from the Salvation Army read from a letter written by one of Odin-Thor's teachers.

The boys were students at Mason City schools, according to a school official. Phenix-Moon was in preschool at Hoover Elementary; Drako-Ragnar was in first grade at Harding Elementary; Odin-Thor was in fourth grade at Roosevelt Elementary; and John-Mikal was in seventh grade at John Adams Middle School.

Many of Odin-Thor's teachers remarked how the boy, whose obituary described as "a nonverbal Autistic," always found ways to show others he loved them.

"To know that boy was to love him," said his teacher, Alicia Lief.

Lief brought with her a doll from the popular children's' series "Pete the Cat," which she said had been Odin-Thor's favorite from his days in her classroom. She presented the doll to Ravan, reminding the sole child to survive the fire that the Mason City community is there to support her.

Lief also recalled John-Mikal, saying he was "always ready with a hug." His father remembered his eldest child as a "a master builder in Legos." Prior to John-Mikal's 12th birthday, he said, he and his wife saved up enough money to buy him a 5,000-piece Lego set, which he proceeded to assemble in under four hours.

Obituaries for the boys provided further details. John-Mikal was a member of the Kids Kiwanis Club and was a Boy Scout patrol leader who wanted to become a Marine.

Odin-Thor loved anything connected with the movie "Toy Story," loved playing outside and taking care of Frodie.

Drako-Ragnar enjoyed art class, and looked forward to joining scouting, like his oldest brother.

Phenix-Moon, the baby of the family, was always helpful, offering to assist his Mom and siblings with their chores. His favorite toy was a blue dragon, which he took with him everywhere.

Teachers said Drako-Ragnar and Phenix-Moon exuded the same sense of love and eagerness to bond with others as their elder brothers.

"Who couldn't love those boys?" Lief said.

McLuer said he is confident the impact his boys made continue will live on through the Mason City community.

"My children are going to be remembered in this community for a long time," he said. "And they have touched everybody and everybody has touched them.”

'A terrible week' for fires in Iowa

The boys were among eight people, including six children, to die in house fires across Iowa the week of Nov. 13, as the weather turned cold. Following a Nov. 18 fire that killed a 10-year-old girl trapped in her upstairs bedroom in a home in the Jones County village of Onslow, County Sheriff Greg Graver called it "a terrible week in eastern Iowa for fatal fires."

According to Iowa fire marshal records, the Mason City death toll was the largest in a single fire in Iowa since May 2017, when four people perished in a burning apartment building in Des Moines' Waveland neighborhood.

Including the deaths in the November fires, which also occurred in Walcott, killing a 2-year-old Nov. 14, and Cedar Rapids, taking the lives of a couple Nov. 17, at least 35 people have died in fires in Iowa in 2022, up from 29 in all of 2021, the records show.

The winter holiday period typically is a time of increased residential fire risk, according to the National Fire Data Center of the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency. In a report, the center cited numerous reasons, including use of space heaters and fireplaces as the weather cools, faulty holiday lighting and cooking accidents.

Several non-fatal fires house have occurred in the Des Moines metro recently, including one early Thursday in the 1500 block of 17th St. Lt. Chris Clements of the Des Moines Fire Department said it appeared to have been related to a space heater being used by three homeless men, who escaped the house uninjured.

Clements said it was at least the second such fire in the past month, and advised space heater users to plug them directly into a wall outlet, not a power strip, and ensure they are at least three feet away from anything combustible.

Staff writer Noelle Alviz-Gransee contributed to this article.

Francesca Block is a breaking news reporter at the Des Moines Register. Reach her at FBlock@registermedia.com or on Twitter at @francescablock3.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Mourners pack service for 4 brothers killed in Mason City house fire