Madonna Badger doesnt believe hot ashes killed family

NBC

Madonna Badger told Matt Lauer on NBCs Rock Center with Brian Williams, I remember thinking to myself I should put that (the bag of ashes) outside. But then I remember thinking, I watched him (Borcina) put his hands in there.

NBC

I dont believe that the ashes started the fire, Madonna Badger told Matt Lauer. She is the Connecticut woman who lost her three daughters and parents in a fire on Christmas morning.

NBC

Every day I wake up and I have to re-remember, Madonna Badger told Matt Lauer.

ERIK ORTIZ

Madonna Badger, the grieving Connecticut mom whose three young girls and parents perished in a horrific Christmas morning fire, disputed an official report that blamed discarded fireplace embers for the blaze.

I dont believe that the ashes started the fire, Badger told NBCs Matt Lauer in an emotional interview that aired Thursday night.

Hot yule log embers were placed in a bag and moved from the fireplace to a mudroom in her Stamford, Conn., home last Christmas.

Fire officials have said the inferno was started by the bag of ashes and embers, although there wasnt enough evidence to charge anyone with negligence.

In the interview, Badger described how her boyfriend, Michael Borcina, cleaned up ashes that had blown onto the hearth by a gust of wind.

I watched him take them with his hand, the shovel, and put them into the bag, Badger told Lauer. I watched him put his hands in the bag ... to make sure that theres nothing on fire in the bag.

She recalled going to bed, but not before looking at the bag of embers one last time.

As I was going up the stairs, I saw the plastic box there on the floor and I saw the bag on top, Badger said. I remember thinking to myself I should put that outside. But then I r! emember thinking, I watched him (Borcina) put his hands in there.

The house was equipped with fire alarms, but Badger, a former Calvin Klein art director, said she never heard them ring.

I want to know what caused the fire, I want to know why didnt the fire alarms go off, she added. The hard-wired alarms had batteries in them. Why didnt those go off?

She also questioned reports that said the embers had been removed from the fireplace because her girls were worried they would burn Santa.

I dont know where that came from, she said.

This was Badgers first televised interview since the tragedy, which claimed the lives of her 7-year-old twins, Grace and Sarah Badger, and their 9-year-old sister, Lily.

Their grandparents, Lomer and Pauline Johnson, also died.

Badger awoke to thick black smoke, and fire crews tried desperately to rescue those inside. Borcina, a contractor, injured his right knee and suffered smoke inhalation during the ordeal.

Badger said she doesnt blame Borcina and remains overwhelmed with grief on a daily basis.

Every day I wake up and I have to re-remember, she said. Every day I have to go through that day and another day starts. Its really just one day at a time.