The Associated Press
RICHFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. — A teenage girl tried to save her 4-year-old sister when their home caught fire in the middle of the night, but both were killed, police said. Their mother and three other siblings escaped.
The fire broke out early Tuesday and may have started in a utility room, where a clothes dryer was running, police said.
Samara White, 15, tried to rescue her sister Alexia VanCleve but was overcome by smoke, police said. Both were pronounced dead at a hospital.
Neighbor Pearl Stephen said she was awakened by a loud popping sound and found Tamara Shewmaker, 33, and three of her children standing outside the house in Richfield Township, about 55 miles north of Detroit.
“She was screaming for the kids upstairs, for them to get out, but it was just too late,” Stephen told The Flint Journal.
The house lacked smoke detectors, a state police fire investigator said.
“Smoke detectors could have prevented these deaths,” Sgt. Lenny Jaskulka said. “This did not have to happen.”