Arizona House Fire Claims the Lives of 5 Children While Dad Was Out Christmas Shopping

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An Arizona family’s holiday season has been ruined and their lives forever changed after a house fire claimed the lives of five children. The father of four of the children went out to do some Christmas and grocery shopping, and came back to tragedy in Bullhead, Arizona, last Saturday.

While he was away, a fire consumed the two-story duplex in which the family lived. Although neighbors attempted to remove the children from the burning building, they were unable to.

Four of the children were siblings and the fifth was a relative.

The victims include a 13-year-old boy, 5-year-old boy, a 4-year-old girl, and a 2-year-old boy, CBS News reports. Those four children were all siblings.

There was another 11-year-old relative in the home who was visiting and sadly, also died in the blaze. The identities of the five children are being withheld pending an official identification by the Mohave County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Investigators believe the flames trapped the children upstairs.

Firefighters arrived four minutes after the fire had been reported. But apparently it was too late. An early investigation found that the flames started in the downstairs foyer and traveled up the only staircase in the home, making it impossible for the children to get out. All five children coincidentally are the grandchildren of a local fire department employee.

Neighbors tried their best to find and rescue the children.

Because of the relationship of the children and the fire department employee, investigators from the Lake Havasu City Fire Department and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms were called in to assist with the investigation to discover how the fire first started.

In addition to the professionals, several neighbors reportedly tried to rescue the children as well, including placing an extension ladder to the upstairs bedroom. One of those neighbors, Patrick O’Neal said it’s the community culture to look out for the kids in the neighborhood.

O’Neal was a part of the attempted rescue. “We came around the corner and we saw the smoke coming up so we knew it was right here,” he said.

The fire department arrived within four minutes but it was too late.

A dozen men gathered hoses and broke windows trying to get into the home, O’Neal told KPHO. “We pulled the garage door open, there was guys pulling stuff out,” O’Neal said. “The closer we got to the door there was smoke starting to come into the garage and showing people out.”

O’Neal said he didn’t know if the children were home at the time. “We were screaming at the top of our lungs,” he said. “We didn’t see nothing, we didn’t hear nothing. There’s many guys out here who would’ve went into that fire if we would have known there was children.”