Pennsylvania siblings, aged 9 and 6, killed in house fire, mom survives by jumping from second floor
SEWICKLEY, PENNSYLVANIA: Two children died in the early morning hours of Tuesday, December 13, after a fire broke out in their Pennsylvania home. Nine-year-old Lyric Keys and her six-year-old brother, Jack Wylde Lightner, were killed at their home in Sewickley, Pennsylvania.
“They were amazing, smart, kind kids. They lit up every room they were in. They are our entire world,” said the children’s father, Robbie Linn, according to WSAZ. Neighbor Tom Pastore said he saw flames coming from the house just before 3 am. “I started hearing loud pops, sort of like fireworks, and then, I would hear screaming,” Pastore said. “I saw the house was on fire… My first thoughts were the children. They’re innocent, the little kids. I was praying for them,” he added.
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Although the firefighters pulled the children from their home, it was already too late by then. Their mother survived by jumping from the second floor. She suffered burns and is in the hospital. “It’s a tragedy for a mother to lose her children,” Pastore said. The family friends remembered Keys at a Tuesday night vigil.
The nine-year-old celebrated her birthday the previous week, and was described as a little girl who always found the beauty in life. Lightner, her brother, was non-verbal until recently, according to loved ones. It is not clear though what caused the fire outbreak but Sewickley Fire Chief Shayne Quinn said he encourages everyone to check their smoke alarms and make sure they have working batteries.
MEAWW previously reported that a three-year-old boy was killed in a Melbourne shed fire due to an explosion on September 24, while he was cooking dinner with his father. Roland Sakhawang was trapped by a blaze that broke out inside the shed at the house on Belle Vue Avenue in Ringwood, Melbourne, at about 6 pm on Saturday. Firefighters, called to the horror scene, managed to extinguish the blaze but unfortunately, it was already too late by the time they found the toddler's body.
The family is part of Melbourne's Burmese community and several members including relatives, friends, and church members visited Sakhawang's house on Sunday. Church leader Jimmy Zathang said other family members were at a church service in Croydon while the father-son duo was preparing a meal. "They lit the fire... The father went into the house to pick up the beef... he went to the toilet and saw a light flash through the glass," he told the Herald Sun.