Five people, including four children, were killed Saturday in a mobile home fire in rural West Virginia.
The mother, who was injured, managed to escape and ran next door to get help from relatives.
“A couple of those family members ran over to the mobile home, they tried to get in through windows and such to attempt to get the children and adult male out. The fire, smoke and heat had just progressed so much they couldn’t even make it through the windows,” Deputy State Fire Marshal Jason Baltic told Metro News.
The victims have been identifed by relatives as Hunter Campbell, 28, as well as Joyce, Abby, Grayson and Bucklee.
Baltic said it appears that at least two of the children tried to make it out of the burning home as their bodies were found in a hallway while others were discovered in different rooms.
No smoke alarms were found in the debris of the home located in a remote area of Hardy County. Firefighters encontered snow-covered and icy roads as they responded to the pre-dawn blaze.
The fire investgator said they are anxious to speak with the woman, who is in a Virginia hospital.
Space heaters were used in the mobile home.
“We do not know if that had anything to do with the cause. We were able to find the remnants of one in the living room area but there’s so much damage in that end of the mobile home there’s no way we can be sure if that’s what started the fire,” he said.
Baltic said the incident hit firefighters hard.
“Any time we lose a life it’s tragic but when we lose some many at one time, four of them being children, it’s horrible. All way too young, it’s very tragic.”
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