Ohio Trailer Fire Consumes Man and 5 Children While Mom Is At Work: Mom Kisses Each Child Goodbye Before Leaving; 'She Had A Whole Family And Now She Has Nothing' [VIDEO & REPORT]
By Jobs & Hire Staff Reporter | Sep 16, 2013 10:45 AM EDT
An Ohio trailer fire consumed six lives: a man and five children age six and below, while the children's mother was at work, Reuters reported Monday.
A fire reportedly ripped through a mobile home and killed a man and five children while the children's mother left to work an early morning shift at a nearby fast-food restaurant.
The mother - identified as Anna Angel - lived in the trailer with her children and her boyfriend, her neighbors and her cousin said.
"She had a whole family and now she has nothing," Anna's cousin Owanna Ortiz said. "Her kids were her life."
According to ABC News, the fire broke out early Sunday morning and left neighbors stunned in the mobile home park in Tiffin, about 50 miles southeast of Toledo and 90 miles west of Cleveland.
Tiffin Fire Chief William Ennis Jr. said firefighters retrieved all six people from the Ohio trailer fire in about 12 minutes, but they were all pronounced dead at a hospital.
The Bade, a newspaper in Toledo, identified the man as 25-year-old Timothy Fresch, and stated that the youngest victim of the Ohio trailer fire was his infant son to Anna, his girlfriend and the mother of the other four children, who were between the ages of 3 and 6. The paper stated that Angel identified the children at the hospital after they were pronounced dead.
A state fire marshal's investigator said that there were no indications or evidence of anything suspicious, adding that it would take up to two days before the authorities could identify how the six had died.
Anna's co-worker Patricia Boes said the mother kissed each of her children goodbye when she accompanied her from her home to their workplace.
Meanwhile, Oritz said the family didn't have a car and they had to get around the area on bicycles, adding, "If she had to get somewhere, they had two strollers they had to take, but they made it work."
Angel was at work when she was informed about the Ohio trailer fire that consumed their home, and police and a neighbor said that she raced on her bicycle to reach the scene right away.
Two of Angel's eldest children were in kindergarten and first grade, Ortiz said, adding, "They were always happy and full of sunshine. The older ones looked out for the younger ones."
Neighbors reportedly stared at the charred home and at the things left at the family's yard including a stroller, a little pink bicycle and an adult bicycle with a bike trailer for kids.
Nancy Williams, the one who manages the Highland Park Estates mobile home park and also lives there, said she asked her son to prompt 911 and run to the home when a neighbor alerted them about the Ohio trailer fire.
"I knew there were babies in there," Nancy said. "But once we got there, there was nothing we could do. It was fully engulfed in flames and we couldn't get in."
Witnesses said the fire burned abruptly, breaking out the family's home windows and peeling some of the trailer's aluminum sliding.
"I watched the babies get dragged out," said neighbor Rick Hummell. "It just made me sick."
Hummell said he often saw the children outside of their house and he would give them money when the ice cream truck came through the park. "She was always good to her kids," Hummell said of Angel.
Chief of the Bascom Joint Fire District outside Tiffin Harry Miller said that about 30 of his volunteer members responded to the scene and assisted Tiffin firefighters.
"We had some new EMTs on the scene as well, and it's very tough on everyone when it involves kids," Miller said. "It hits home because we all have kids."
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