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.
