The mother of four small kids who perished in a mobile home fire in Indiana escaped the blazing house without the kids, then inquired another adult residing there whether they were with him. Jessica Mann, 30, was sleeping in her bedroom at the Fort Wayne location when the fire started on Thursday morning. She got away by shoving an air conditioner through the window.
Travis Garrison, 18, who witnessed their painful dying moments, said her four children, ages 2, 3, 5, and 10, were all asleep in a front bedroom and died screaming. In a third bedroom, Garrison and two other people – his sister Audrey Kistler, 24, and her boyfriend, Samuel Barnett, 17 – were sleeping.
Garrison awakened to the blaze and attempted to escape by the front door, but the locking was inoperable. He stated that he bolted through the back door, while his sister and her partner fled through a window. When all four adults were outdoors, Mann dashed over to Garrison and inquired as to their whereabouts. ‘She went up to me and the other three, or two, and asked if her kids were okay, and I told her they were still in there,’ Garrison explained.
Mann, according to Garrison, jumped on top of his vehicle to try to rescue them via a window, but the home was already engulfed in flames. Garrison explained that he was going to the front door to bust it open, but it wouldn’t open. He continued hearing the children scream. He couldn’t do anything about the screams. They did everything they could to get the children out. They did all in their power.
Several other neighbors interviewed wondered how the parents could leave without the kids, but Garrison said they did all they could to save them. Garrison explained that they were all trying to go back in there. They were unable to enter the house. The fire was out of control. The smoke was too dense. They were unable to re-enter that residence.
Neighbors contacted 911, and some volunteered to help with the rescue. Shelby Wright, a neighbor, claimed she stepped outdoors after hearing an explosion. She explained that there was a lot of smoke. She couldn’t even breathe or see. She went on to say that a second explosion exacerbated the situation. She claimed that she heard the kids pleading for assistance and the dog howling, adding that she slashed her hands in an attempt to liberate the kids.
She dashed over there and began smashing windows in an attempt to assist them in getting out. She continued saying that they could just stand there and watch somebody’s house burn with their kids inside and not be compelled to go up and help.
Before the fire became worse, Garrison claimed he heard a propane tank whistle. According to affidavits from the fire and sheriff’s departments, by the time the Fort Wayne Fire Department arrived at 8:33 a.m., the fire had spread throughout the mobile home.
According to a fire department news release, firefighters brought the blaze under control enough to enter the residence at 8:56 a.m. and discovered the children’s deaths.
May those little angels’ souls rest in peace.
