Light in children's bedroom blamed

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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Nearly six months after a fire tore a family apart, claiming the lives of two young children, the State Fire Marshal's Office announced it was unable to determine the cause of the fatal fire.

The State Fire Marshal's Office recently finished its investigation into the fire that killed 5-year-old Alyssa and 7-year-old Robert Bullock in their family's Westside home in May.

Investigators said they knew the fire started in the children's bedroom. Their investigation focused on a disco ball light that was found melted in the children's room.

Shortly after the fire, the children's mother Amy Bullock told investigators she turned the disco light off at 9:30 p.m. and went to bed at about 1 a.m.

The smell of smoke woke the mother at about 6 a.m., but it was too late. Both of the sleeping children died of smoke inhalation.

The children's father said he believes the disco ball light was what led to their deaths. He filed a lawsuit against the manufacturer of the disco ball and Chuck E Cheese, the place where the kids bought the disco light.

Since filing the lawsuit, he and his attorneys were eagerly waiting for the report on what actually caused the fire.

During the investigation, melted debris was subjected to X-ray examination and investigators took other disco ball lights and tested them.

Disco Light

Robert Bullock and his attorney, Steve Browning, are offering $10 for every disco light toy turned in.

In its report, the State Fire Marshal's Office stated, "Neither the investigation at the scene nor the x-rays could conclusively determine what caused the fire."

Along with the report, Channel 4 was able to obtain the x-rays, which, according to the state fire marshal, show the disco ball was in the melted mass of plastic where the fire started.

"The problem is when you get into exactly what caused the heat buildup within that devise to cause it to ignite, and that's where we have a problem. We cannot specifically put our finger on what may have happened," said State Fire Marshal Richard Walker.

Fire officials said they could not be certain the disco ball light started the fire and that they would never know for sure what sparked the flames.

"The disco ball, without any doubt in my mind, caused the fire because there is no other source of heat where the fire started," said the family's attorney Steve Browning.

Browning said the report is informative, but it doesn't make much of a difference to the case.

"If we didn't have a good faith belief that the case was just, we wouldn't have brought it in the first place," Browning said.

The children's father said all he wants is justice for his kids.

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All I want is for people to plug that kind of stuff into my power strip. If I could prevent just one fatal fire.