Three people are dead, including a five-year-old girl, from a house fire in Shreveport’s MLK neighborhood Sunday morning.
Firefighters rushed into the burning home and found the four victims unconscious and not breathing.
Shreveport Fire Chief Clarence Reese Jr. says a seven-year-old girl was the first to notice the fire and called her mother.
“The mother turned around and called 911,” Chief Reese said in an interview with Louisiana Radio Network affiliate KEEL-AM/FM.
The seven-year-old girl survived but is hospitalized in critical condition.
Reese says it was emotional scene for the firefighters.
“You can see the emotion on their faces,” says Chief Reese. “But nobody wanted to go home, and (they wanted to) continue to finish out their shift.”
The three people killed in the fire have been identified as Mildred Carter, 84; Eureka Garner, 56; and Ne-Vaeh Garner, 5.
Reese says they likely all died from smoke inhalation.
“It does take over very quickly when you remove the oxygen in the home,” says Reese.
Reese says according to the mother, everyone was up when she left for work, and now she’s completely heartbroken.
“We went to the hospital to meet with that mother who lost pretty much three generations in one house fire,” says Reese. “We prayed with them.”
Reese says there were no working smoke detectors inside the home; and even though everyone inside was awake, it’s hard to escape a burning fire with no advanced warning.
“Fires are very chaotic,” Reese says. “They get dark very quickly, popping noises and everything else. So it’s quite the traumatic experience for anyone that has ever experienced (one).”
The cause is still under investigation.
Jeff Palermo contributed to this report.
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