Days after a mother and her six young children were rescued from their burning Minnesota home, three of the children have died as a result of injuries sustained in the blaze, the family said.
On January 3, the mother and children were found unconscious from smoke inhalation when first responders were called to battle the blaze, according to the St. Paul Fire Department (SPFD).
The mother and her three boys and three girls, whose ages ranged from 1 to 6, received CPR from the SPFD crews on the sidewalk before they were rushed to three local hospitals in critical condition. Three of the children, 5-year-old twin sisters and their 4-year-old brother, died, family members said at a press conference on Saturday.
The husband and father, Pacheng Vang, said his wife and 1-year-old son are still fighting for their lives and are still in “critical condition,” he said in an update on a GoFundMe account that was sent up to help the family pay for the funeral and medical expenses. The two other surviving children remain hospitalized but are “out of a critical zone” their father said.
Newsweek reached out via email on Sunday to the SPFD for comment and an update on the fire. Newsweek also reached out to Vang via GoFundMe for comment.
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Firefighters with the SPFD said the blaze started at roughly 1:30 a.m. on Wednesday at a home on Arkwright Street North in St. Paul, Minnesota. The six children were home with their mother when the flames engulfed their home, officials said. Vang was at work at the time.
The official cause of the fire has not yet been determined but investigators said they do not believe it was suspicious, SPFD told local media, noting that the home did have working smoke alarms.
“I highly encourage every single family to start practicing fire drills at home, especially in the middle of the night,” Vang said. “I don’t want any family, or the community, to see faces [in the] same condition as my family.”
As he grapples with the loss of three children and deals with uncertainty as his wife and other children remain hospitalized, the community has stepped up to offer support.
St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter, who said he is a friend of the family, called the deadly blaze a “tragedy for our entire community” at the press conference on Saturday morning.
Carter, who spoke alongside Pacheng and his family, told the father and husband that he has “endured all of our worst nightmares.”
“To everybody sitting at home, looking at this news story, saying, ‘Oh, that’s a horrible thing to happen for the New Year. That’s a horrible thing that happened over the holidays,'” Cater said. “My challenge is, don’t just stop there. This is a family in our community that needs our help.”
The mayor said he encourages people to help the family pay for medical and funeral expenses by contributing to their GoFundMe account.
“With the death of my children, I would like to ask for a helping hand as it is expensive to hold a funeral,” Vang said on the GoFundMe page. “I’m hoping our family, friends, and community can donate to help me out. Even just enough to hold a small cheap funeral, a decent standard coffin, and a place for the children to rest.”
The donation page has raised more than $387,000 from over 7,000 donors as of Sunday night. Vang said he is “wholeheartedly grateful for the support.”
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.