CHADBOURN, N.C. (WNCN) — Crews continued their work at the site Saturday afternoon following a devastating house fire that resulted in the tragic deaths of four children in Columbus County overnight, according to authorities.
The blaze was reported shortly after 2:30 a.m. on Saturday at a residence located on North Colony Road, roughly a mile northeast of Chadbourn, stated Shannon Blackman, the Columbus County Fire Marshal, to CBS 17.
The initial responders included a deputy from the Columbus County Sheriff’s Office and a team from Chadbourn Rescue, who were returning from Columbus Regional Hospital in Whiteville, Blackman mentioned.
The group arrived about seven minutes after the initial report and saw that the home was engulfed in flames, Blackman said.
Blackman also disclosed that the deceased children were aged between 2 and 7 years. Two 11-year-old girls managed to flee the inferno, but tragically, four siblings perished in the incident.
Blackman told CBS 17 that no adults were at home when the initial fire call was made by the two children who escaped.
The first group at the scene was unable to enter the burning home at 259 N. Colony Road.
“There was no way they could enter the structure at that point,” Blackman told the Columbus County News.
By noon, Columbus County officials informed CBS 17 that emergency personnel remained present at the fire site, situated approximately five miles west-northwest of Whiteville and a mile east of the junction between U.S. 74 and N.C. 410.
Columbus County Sheriff Bill Rogers revealed to the Columbus County News that the SBI and Fire Marshal were in the midst of investigating the remnants of the residence on Saturday.
