Investigators believe a child playing with a lighter led to a house fire in Jackson Parish that killed two kids, a two-month girl and a three-year-old boy who just celebrated a birthday. State Fire Marshal Butch Browning says there were five children in the home when the blaze started.
“One of those children accidentally set that couch on fire in the living room,” said Browning.
Three kids were able to get out unharmed, but Browning says the lone adult at home at the time couldn’t get to the two kids who died.
“And when he tried to reach the two children in the master bedroom, both from the inside and outside, the smoke and fire progressed so bad he couldn’t get to them and they subsequentially died at the scene,” said Browning.
Saturday night’s fatal fire occurred in the town of Hodge. It’s the second fire in north Louisiana in two weeks that was started by a child using a lighter. Browning urges parents to keep lighters out of the reach of children.
“You have to educate children that when they spot matches and lighters that they immediately don’t touch it or handle it, but get an adult to properly secure it,” said Browning.
