Michigan dad charged in house fire that killed family used fire pit just feet away

A Michigan man started a fire in a burn pit just feet away from his family’s house that killed his wife and the couple’s three children, police said.

Robert Scales, 38, is facing four counts of involuntary manslaughter in the February blaze in Grand Rapids that killed Wanedia Scales, 35, and their three kids, 15-year-old Xavier Woldeab, 10-year-old Elijah Scales and 14-year-old Robert Scales Jr., WOOD-TV reports.

Scales, who said he was working at the time of the Feb. 5 blaze, admitted to starting a fire in a burn pit about six feet away from the home the night before, police wrote in an affidavit of probable cause.

Fire investigators said the blaze later spread to the home, which had a mattress placed between it and the fire pit, police said.

A man told investigators he was with Scales as he burned leaves in the pit, but left the home at about 7 p.m. Feb. 4 and saw no mattress near the fire pit at the time, according to the affidavit.

“He stated that he told Robert he needed to get a bigger pit and move it away from the house,” police wrote.

The pit was just six feet away from the home and eight feet from a detached garage, MLive.com reports.

Relatives, meanwhile, told WOOD-TV they believe Scales, who surrendered to police late last week, set the blaze intentionally and want additional charges filed in the fatal fire.

Just five months earlier, Wanedia Scales sought a personal protection order against her husband, claiming he had threatened to “burn the house down” with her inside, MLive.com reports.

Scales also reportedly accused her husband of vandalizing their home and threatening to hurt her.

“I am begging you,” Wanedia Scales wrote in the request, which was not approved. “I am scared for my life. I don’t know what else to do. I need help please.”