Five kids die in house fire while dad is Christmas shopping
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Four grandchildren of an Arizona fire inspector were killed alongside a young cousin when their home caught ablaze while their dad left them home alone to go Christmas shopping, according to cops and grieving family.
Four siblings — boys ages 2, 5 and 13 and their 4-year-old sister — died alongside an 11-year-old male relative who was visiting them in their duplex Saturday evening, the Bullhead City Police Department said.
“There were no survivors,” police said of the fire that appears to have started in the downstairs foyer and traveled up the stairs, trapping all five kids in the upstairs bedroom.
“The children’s father reported to investigators that he was gone for approximately 2.5 hours to buy groceries and Christmas gifts,” police said.
Neither the dad nor the kids were formally identified, but their names emerged in a series of heart-wrenching social media tributes by grieving family members of the dad, John Jones.
“Zane wasn’t saved,” Nicole Renae Husko wrote of her 5-year-old son with Jones, Zane Michael Jones.
“He always told his dad & myself he wanted to be a firefighter,” the devastated mother wrote of his desire to follow in his grandpa’s footsteps.
Husko said her son was with his three siblings, who had different mothers, when “they all died from burning because a flashover happened.”
The two youngest victims were identified by their mom, Nikki Sellers, as her two kids with Jones: Freya, 4, and 2-year-old Elias.
Jones’ mother, Tanya Jones, confirmed the deaths on Facebook, while changing her profile picture to a group shot of five children.
“Our 4 beautiful grandchildren and their cousin were in the home,” Tanya wrote.
“We are all beyond devastated.’
The cousin was identified online by Jamaica Elementary School as 11-year-old Henry Lewis.
The family’s dog, Amity, has been missing since the blaze, Nikki Sellers shared on Facebook.
Attempts to reach dad Jones were not immediately successful Tuesday.
The victims were grandchildren of a Bullhead City Fire Department employee, police said, without identifying the staffer or elaborating on their role.
Tanya Jones’ husband, also named John Jones — the grandfather of four of the victims — is a fire inspector at the Bullhead City Fire Department, according to LinkedIn.
Because of that link, the local department will not be involved in the ongoing investigation. Police will be assisted by the Lake Havasu City Fire Department and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives. An exact cause of the fire has yet to be revealed.
“Our city is dealing with a horrific tragedy,” said Police Chief Robert Trebes, stressing that investigators are “working tirelessly to get answers” to bring “closure” to the victims’ loved ones.
About a dozen neighbors saw the fire and desperately tried to put the flames out, local Patrick O’Neal told CBS 5.
“We came around the corner and we saw the smoke coming up so we knew it was right here,” O’Neal recalled.
The group even broke windows trying to get into the home.
“We pulled the garage door open, there were guys pulling stuff out. The closer we got to the door, there was smoke starting to come into the garage and choking people out,” he said.
They knew children lived in the duplex, but did not know if they were home, he added.
“We were screaming at the top of our lungs,” he said, saying they didn’t see or hear anything from the kids.
“There are many guys out here who would’ve gone into that fire if we’d have known there were children” trapped, O’Neal said.
When the fire department arrived, the neighbors helped place an extension ladder to the upstairs bedroom, police said.
A vigil in honor of the victims is set for 6 p.m. local time Wednesday in Bullhead City’s Rotary Park, according to a Facebook event.
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