(StraightNews.org) – Five young siblings and a relative died in a house fire in Arizona when their father left them alone to go Christmas shopping. Reports say the children, aged 2, 4, 5, 11, and 13, were on their own for around two hours, and a fire broke out in the foyer of the two-story building in Bullhead City, leaving the children trapped upstairs.
Neighbors said they rushed to the scene when they saw the fire but could do nothing to prevent the tragedy. Patrick O’Neal, who lives nearby, said, “We were screaming at the top of our lungs. 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.”
The cause of the blaze has not yet been determined, and investigators from the city’s police and fire departments will work with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to investigate what went wrong.
Nicole Renae Husko, mother of one of the victims, expressed her sorrow on Facebook, saying, “I’m so sorry buddy, I love you so much.” In a second post, she wrote, “I only got five years with him please bring me my baby back.”
According to 2023 US statistics, almost 350,000 American homes experience a fire every year, causing nearly 3,000 deaths and $9 billion in damage. Fire departments nationwide respond to an incident every 23 seconds on average, and most begin in the kitchen. House fires are more common during winter months, and the leading cause is cooking, which accounts for 49%; heating causes 13%; electrical items, 9%; arson, 9%; and smoking, 5%.
The number of fires in the US has dropped significantly since the 1980s, when the figures hovered above 700,000, but by 2021, this was down to just over 350,000.
Experts say the best ways to prevent fires are to keep homes uncluttered, ensure kitchens are clean and cooking is not left unattended, and fit effective smoke alarms.
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