Fire at a Detroit residence kills two children on Christmas Day

Detroit – A mother escaped a fire on Christmas morning after jumping out of a second-floor window with a three-year-old son in her arms, but her 4 and 6-year-old descendants did not survive. fire in the house in East Detroit, fire officials said.

Two other 8- and 10-year-olds from the same family survived but suffered severe burns.

The Detroit Fire Department said the two children who died were found in the living room at the front of the two-story house.

“It’s definitely a Christmas tragedy,” said David Fornell, deputy fire chief. “Just awful.”

The 8- and 10-year-olds suffered third-degree burns and were in critical condition in a burn ward of a hospital.

Fornell later noted that both minors had apparently escaped while on the first level, the Detroit Free Press reported. According to officials quoted in previous news reports, the two may have jumped off the top deck.

Fornell said the mother and the 3-year-old had been hospitalized and suffered no serious injuries. He also confirmed that the woman was the mother of the five children.

Firefighters rushed to the scene because of a phone call received shortly before 9am on Christmas Day. The cause of the fire has not yet been determined.

“It could be an electrical problem, a Christmas tree or children playing with matches; there is no suspicion of anything, ”Fornell said.