By Josh Wallace
The Oklahoman
OKLAHOMA CITY — A mother suffered burns trying to save her children from a northeast Oklahoma City house fire on Tuesday, but the boys never made it out.
District Chief Benny Fulkerson said fire crews went to the house at 1207 NE 47 about 9:35 a.m., with reports of children trapped inside.
In a 911 call, a neighbor can be heard frantically trying to tell a dispatcher about the two children inside the home.
“Her kids are inside,” she said. “I’m positive, the woman is outside crying ‘cause her kids are inside.”
She can be heard telling the dispatcher the children were 3 and 4 years old and were supposed to be in a bedroom.
“We sent a crew into that southeast corner bedroom, and we were not able to locate children there,” Fulkerson said. “Firefighters continued to fight the fire and continued to search for the children, as well, and they did later find two children in a bathroom in another portion of the house. Unfortunately, these children did not survive this fire this morning.”
Fulkerson said the mother and grandmother were in the home with the children when the fire started, and the mother moved the grandmother outside first because she was confined to a wheelchair.
Shortly before the end of the 911 call, the woman can be heard telling the dispatcher she was trying to keep the mother from going back inside the home.
Fulkerson said the mother tried to go into the house for the children but wasn’t able to because of the heat.
He said she suffered minor burns and was taken to the hospital.
The names and ages of the children were not released by officials, but the state medical examiner’s office confirmed that two boys died in the fire.
‘Very difficult’
Near the house, friends and family members could be seen weeping as emergency personnel hugged and attempted to console them.
A neighbor who did not want to be identified said she wasn’t at home when the fire started but knew of the family.
“Good people, never bothered anybody,” she said.
She thought they had lived at the house for about a year.
She said the family had more children, and she thought they were at school at the time of the fire.
Fulkerson said it did not appear there were any working smoke alarms in the house.
In a news release later Tuesday, Fulkerson said investigators have ruled the fire as an accident.
The blaze started in a bedroom and appeared to have spread quickly to the attic, the release states.
“I can tell you that it’s a hard day for firefighters,” he said.
“Despite our best efforts with fire prevention and public education messages, and despite having one of the greatest fire response organizations in the country, bad things still happen sometimes, and it’s very difficult for us, but it’s also very difficult for this family, for this neighborhood and we just want them to know that our hearts go out to them.”
#BREAKING on scene of deadly fire killing 2 kids. Mom and grandma in home. @OKCFOX pic.twitter.com/c3ZegoUeF0
— Julie Calhoun (@JulieFox25) March 22, 2016
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