MARCH 7, 2015
PORTSMOUTH,VA. (WAVY)
An early morning fire on Pennock Street in Portsmouth left
three children dead Saturday.
According to Chief Hoffler with the Portsmouth Fire
Department, just after 1:00 a.m fire crews responded to the 20 block of Pennock
Street for a report of a house fire with three children trapped inside.
The first firefighters who arrived on the scene confirmed
there were three children inside the burning home.
Firefighters entered the house, located and brought one of
the children out immediately. It took another three to four minutes to locate
the other two and get them out of the house, according to Chief Hoffler.
Medics transported one of the children to Maryview Hospital
where they later died. The other two children were pronounced deceased on the
scene. Two of the deceased, a boy and a girl, were nine-month-old twins and the
third was a three-year-old boy.
Two adults who were in the house made it out of
the home unharmed. Fire officials originally thought there were four adults in
the home.
A family friend tells WAVY.com that the father of the twins
tried to get the three children out of the house, but was unable to because of
the intensity of the flames.
Chief Hoffler says Portsmouth Fire Marshall’s
determined the fire was caused by an extension cord that was coiled on top
of some cloths, that ignited the cloths when the cord overheated.
Portsmouth Police and the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms assisted in
the investigation. Hoffler says the ATF helped in the investigation due to the
deadly nature of the fire.
Source: www.wavy.com