Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

3 children die in house fire while parents attend Bible study

A fourth child, a nine-year-old girl, managed to escape the flames and alert her neighbours

 

Rachael Revesz
New York
Wednesday 27 January 2016 15:25 EST
Comments
Firefighters pulled three children from the house but they died later in hospital
Firefighters pulled three children from the house but they died later in hospital (AP)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Three children have died and one child is seriously injured after a house caught fire in Wisconsin while the parents were allegedly attending church Bible study.

The victims include an 11-year-old who died while trying to save two younger children from the blaze. The other two children were aged seven and 10, as reported by Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

The fourth child, a nine-year-old girl, escaped from the burning home in Sheboygan Falls on Tuesday night after the 11-year-old woke her up by shouting “fire, fire” and told her to run and get help, according to Sheboygan Falls Public Safety Director Steven Riffel.

The girl went to a neighbour’s house and the neighbour called 911 about 9pm.

“Very preliminary information is that the 11-year-old was able to wake the 9-year-old and give a warning to flee the residence. The 9-year-old did, believing the others were following,” Mr Riffel said. “The 11-year-old returned to assist the other two still upstairs, but none were able to flee the home.”

Firefighters pulled all three children from the house but they died later in hospital.

Mr Riffel added that authorities are investigating reports that the parents may have been at a church Bible study at the time of the fire.

They are also investigating whether the children were siblings.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in