FOUR CHILDREN UNDER THE AGE OF 5 perished Saturday night when a fire swept unchecked and unreported through a townhouse in Flint, Michigan. One of the children lived there and the others were being watched by the child’s father, a 28-yr.-old man who was cooking something and fell asleep.
Flint Journal / Hollyn Johnson
When he woke up, the fire was well advanced and he dove out a first-floor window to escape. The children ages 4, 3, 2, and 1 were all upstairs and trapped in the fire. At about that time, shortly after 11 pm, a neighbor saw the fire breaking out the windows and called the fire department.
Battalion Chief Andy Graves told the Flint Journal that the home was fully involved when the units arrived, but they made an attempt anyway, advancing a hose line up the stairs while knocking down the fire. However, all the children were already dead by that time. Chief Graves added that the prolonged response time of seven minutes was created by the closure of a nearby fire station. He also said that none of the smoke detectors in the public housing unit were working and that contributed greatly to a delayed alarm.
The fire got up into the common attic and spread throughout the building, damaging the other five units in the structure.
The Associated Press has MORE.
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