Memphis house fire kills family of 4 as dad tries to break windows to save his children aged 8 and 10
MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE: In a tragic incident, four members of a family died in a house fire in Memphis, Tennessee, including two children, ages eight and ten, a 33-year-old mother, and a 62-year-old grandmother. However, the father, who managed to escape the fire, was taken to the hospital in critical condition.
A father was seen trying to break the windows of his house to save his trapped family as their Memphis home went up in flames. Memphis Fire Department spokesperson says those who died are a 10-year-old boy, an 8-year-old boy, and both their mother, 33, and grandfather, 62, reports Fox 13.
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What happened at the Memphis home?
Authorities claim that a heater was left unattended in their bedroom, which could be the possible reason for the tragedy. The family was trapped in the room and could not escape the raging flames. The father tried to break the windows to get into the house with the help of neighbors and save his loved ones. However, it was a futile attempt. The identity of the father and the other victims has not yet been disclosed.
What are the responses from the neighbors?
A neighbor who helped the dad to rescue his family, said, "We were just getting back to the house and we looked down the street and we've seen that there was some black smoke in the air. So we looked around the corner and see that the house was on fire...We full sprinted down here, and there was a few people out here, maybe two or three, and then the man that lives in the house, the one that was taken to the hospital. He came around back and he mentioned that his kids were in the house."
Further the neighbor added, "And that's when everybody kind of sprung into action. We went over there and we busted both of those two left-sided windows out and we were trying to reach in and get in but it was just impossible for us to get in. There was way too much smoke and fire by that time it came. There was just no way to get in there anymore. Another neighbor opined about the children saying," they used to ride up and down the street with bikes, scooters, all that stuff. Catch the ice cream man...You know, kids," as per Mirror. Meanwhile, another house fire occurred at Buffalo in January that left three girls dead and several others injured. According to sources and officials, the children, aged 7, 8, and 10, died after firefighters helped in evacuating them from the single-family home on Dartmouth Street.
As reoprted previously by MEAWW, a mother and her 7 children died after a fire broke out in their home in the town of Charly-sur-Marne on February 6, while they were sleeping. The mother and her children, aged 2 to 14, succumbed to asphyxiation. According to prosecutor Julien Morino-Ros, the cause of the fire appears to be a defective clothes dryer on the first floor of the house.