Grandmother and grandchildren die in fire after lighting fireplace to keep warm

AThe storms in Texas, USA, have left many homes without power since last week. That’s what happened to Loan Le, a woman who decided to move in with her daughter after running out of power at home.

According to CNN, the woman temporarily moved in with her daughter, who still had electricity and water. That same day, it would also be without power, and the family decided to light the fireplace to keep warm, given that the US state currently has very high negative temperatures.

The family will have spent the night living together and what happened next, after going to bed, is unknown.

Jackie Pham Nguyen says he only remembers screaming for his children and waking up in the hospital. The woman had to be grabbed by firefighters to keep from going into the burning house. Her three children aged 11, eight and five died, as did her mother.

Doug Adolph, a spokesman for the city of Sugar Land, told CNN that it took more than an hour to fire fully under control.

“We cannot say with certainty what caused the fire,” he explained, and “it is possible that the investigation will never identify an exact cause.”

Although Nguyen suffered burns on his hands, he says the loss of his children and his mother is immeasurable.

It is recalled that the Texas region has been on a three-week weather alert due to a historic wave of glacial cold in that state and neighboring states in the south-central United States. The warnings, however, were insufficient to prevent a public calamity that devastated the electricity grid and left dozens dead.

Read also: Cold wave in the USA leaves Texas with temperatures of -18ºC