A 28-year-old man and four children aged 1, 2, 3, and 5 have been killed in a mobile home fire, West Virginia officials said Saturday.
A woman described as the children's mother narrowly escaped and is being treated at the hospital, according to the West Virginia Fire Marshal.
Authorities said they received the 911 call at around 5 a.m. on Saturday morning. Deputy State Fire Marshal chief investigator Jason Baltic told MetroNews that the mother had run next door to seek help from neighboring relatives, but the fire and smoke had “just progressed so much they couldn’t even make it through the windows.”
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“Any time we lose a life it’s tragic but when we lose so many at one time, four of them being children, it’s horrible,” Baltic said. “All way too young, it’s very tragic.”
The man and woman lived in the mobile home with two children they biologically shared and two others from a previous relationship, Baltic told MetroNews. The family reportedly used space heaters, but it’s unclear if they caused the fire. Due to the extent of the damage, the cause remains undetermined; a smoke alarm was reportedly not found in the debris.
According to 12 WBOY, the West Virginia Medical Examiner’s Office will examine and identify the children’s bodies.
