Exactly!

I'm sorry, but how does this happen? Short of an explosion, no child should ever die in a fire with today's smoke detectors..... And how on earth did the mom and grandmother make it out but not 4 of the kids? Firemen wouldn't be able to DRAG me from a burning house if my kids were still inside- I'd rather die than face life knowing I failed to rescue them.

This story made me cry - it's a true tragedy.

Four children are dead and all you can offer is a sarcastic comment?

My God...... Anytime children are involved, it just breaks my heart. RIP

Jenn,

Not all people have smoke detectors. The weather is cold and a lot of people used electric space heaters. This may be the case.

it sounds like the 4 kids were in one room where there was a heater plugged in and it started the fire. The six yr old was most likely sleeping with mom.

By the time the mother realized what was going on, the bedroom was most likely fully engulfed in flames and there was no way to get to the kids. "Terrible tragedy".

I must say though, I'm with you as far as I would also die trying before I would leave my children. RIP little ones.

Jenn, Atlanta's been under a cold snap for several weeks.

Conyers is not exactly a great exurb of Atlanta. Single mom with 4 little kids (+ grandmother) is a lot to care for and expensive. Investigators will have to determine if there was power to the apt., if the family had been using space heater(s) or gas stove as supplement heat, or if the 6-year-old boy was playing with matches; that's about the age for it. Tragedy and sadness all the way 'round. Hate it for the firefighters, too. Their hearts must sink a bit deeper when small children are involved.

Jenn, I have the very same questions. Smoke detectors are a MUST if you are in charge of caring for children! While Creek Dog did offer a plausible circumstance, the part about "some people don't have smoke detectors" is unacceptable. Smoke detectors are made to be affordable and can run off of a battery. People, if you don't have smoke detectors, get them!

Jim,

Yeah, believe it or not, some people simply do not have them. They're not a code requirement in some areas unless it's a rented facility.

New houses just built must have them but, older ones in some areas do not require them unless they upgrade their house from which it will not be grandfathered in as not being required.

I myself do have them along with carbon monoxide detectors. I would never think of not having them in my house...

Creek Dog,

"believe it or not, some people simply do not have them."

And some people who do have smoke detectors disconnect them because they have a tendency to go off even when there is no fire, and so some people consider them more of a nuisance than a help. After all, who really expects his house to burn down? Smoke detectors become like the boy who cried wolf.

A report came out in October, showing that 90% of smoke detectors used in homes, could fail to go off in time, or at all, in cases of smoldering fires. Because they are designed for flash, fast moving fires instead. Which rely on “ionization” technology to pick up enough smoke, before going off. Unfortunately, too often by the time the alarm goes off, up to half an hour or more later, only seconds remain before a room is engulfed in flames. No one would be able to get out reliably. That is if it went off even. Most of us rely on this kind of alarm. Here is a site to help you understand which kind to get to help increase your chances of surviving a fire much better.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/49214422/ns/today-today_rossen_reports/t/rossen-reports-popular-smoke-alarms-may-go-too-late-experts-warn/

It is a photoelectric detector. Which the government highly recommends and goes off when there is barely even any smoke in the air.Three states now mandate new homes have them.They are a little more costly.In tests done side by side, these detectors sounded 17 minutes sooner then the others, which went off only after toxic gases had filled the room. Check the link for demonstrations.

I feel just awful for those children who died in this fire. As one who survived a fire myself in childhood, I'm so grateful, and can appreciate how far we have come with the technology to prevent so many today, and treat burn victims as well.

It is always my prayers parents will take all the steps they can, doing their best to protect the lives of everyone placed into their stewardship.This is one way that is so easy, in truly preventing one of most horrible and needless ways of dying.

My deepest prayers for the mother, that she will recover quickly, her son will be okay and this family be able to get all the help they will need to overcome this terrible tragedy eventually. May those little angelic souls who perished be at peace.

It's important to remember not to judge lest ye be judged. It's enough that these children suffered a horrible death rather than look for blame.

ewent,

It's not "blame". It's called "possible scenarios" as this is what the vine is for.

You THINK you would die trying to save them...this happened to a relative of mine, and he could not physically make his body go into the flames. Like his heart pushed to the entrance...but his brain would not let him walk in. You absolutely don't know the level of panic and confusion in these circumstances. You don't have to be in the flames for your skin to begin "melting away" on you. My cousin tried to jump in through the window and his arms, face, and neck were "melted" by the heat...not the flame.

Try not to judge folks...you know what your heart would have you do...but that does not mean you can make your body, when it knows better, comply with your heart.

There is a time and place for everything.The immature posters joking about banning things is clearly disgusting.Eight children died and this is not the time to be joking.This is an extreme tragedy and is very heartbreaking.

Time to go eff yourself for using the tragic death of children to score cheap political points, Gary?

A friend of mine lost everything, including his wife, in a fire last fall. Smoke alarms-check. Desperate attempt to save his wife and pets-check. Some fires are so fast and so intense, they defy rescue. As he tried to make it up the stairs to save them, the flames, heat, and force made a physical wall as impenetrable as concrete. I read the internet accounts and comments of his fire, and hope he never did, because the accusations and innuendos were incredibly mean-spirited.

@Gary

I'm VERY pro 2nd-Amendment gun rights and I'm sick of the incessant fill-in-the-blank arguments used as a metaphor to argue against unfair or unreasonable gun control.

Be creative and say something original, or stfu.

Never let a crisis go to waste!!!

Gary, Absolutely ridiculous statement that says a lot about why this country can't seem to have a legitimate conversation about guns. These fires were, like most fires, accidents. Automobile deaths are accidents. Mass shootings are not accidents. When the American public gets their heads out of the NRA's collective leadership's bum, we may have a real shot at bringing the gun situation under reasonable control.

piglizard are you going to tell me what is reasonable???

Please list your credentials???

4Rudie4 and california nurse-I am terribly sorry about what happened to your relatives and friends. I don't wish that on anybody. Both of you make very good points, about how desire to save your loved ones doesn't always translate into ability to actually do so. Fires can get out of control so quickly, and there's only so much you can do.

My sympathies to those in this article who lost loved ones.

Gary K-2697770 you do not have to have "credentials" to prove that something is unreasonable. Just consider the standard "beyond a reasonable doubt" in the law. Reasonable is based upon a consensus of people who think rationally. Your statements on this site have been "immature" "mean-spirited" "sarcastic" and "offensive."

Creek Dog, @1.8 What does using an electric space heater have to do with not having a smoke detector?

What ever the ignition source is there will be smoke in the beginning and throughout the fire.

There is no reason any house in America should not have at least one working smoke detector in it.

baby, so far the consensus seems to be me 21 you 2????

Rick,

"What does using an electric space heater have to do with not having a smoke detector?"

I think it may have something to do with local zoning regulations. No space heater may be within 300 yards of a smoke detector or something like that. :)

Don't blame the fire. The fire didn't kill those kids. Blame the one that started it. Blame violence on TV and video games. Blame the world instead of ourselves. republicans are so pathetic and never take responsibility for the actions. Republicans can go straight to hell.

Why was my comment above collapsed by the community?

god didn't give them the strength to save those kids or stop those flames...

If God was going to do anything for them, he should have stopped the fire in the first place...but after He sat around and did nothing, now you think he should show up and 'give them strength'?

It would be comical if it weren't sad.

I am amazed that so many people harp "Well, where was God when x,y,z happened? Why didn't he save those poor people?!?!?", with their condescension, it's disgusting because they are often times the people who scream about the world being over populated. How many more people would be on this Earth if we all lived to be 90 plus because there were no accidents, no murders, no diseases? These things are all necessary in our world in order for us to move along as a species without over crowding. Is it sad that people die horrible deaths? You bet it is. Is it horrible that some people cannot conceive children? For them, it's devastating. Do gay people choose to be gay (well that's a whole other can of worms)? Most likely not. All of these things occur as population control and are a necessity.

annon,

"These things are all necessary in our world in order for us to move along as a species without over crowding. Is it sad that people die horrible deaths?"

"How great is the sorrow of life that must die!" - The Buddha

You make good points there, and yet we are working constantly on finding ways to make people live longer in an already overcrowded world with insufficient food to go around. It seems human society is full of contradictions.

Jenn.....my heart breaks every time I see a story like this...........we had one here in Oklahoma City several weeks ago....again 4 children died and no smoke detectors in the house. Here in Oklahoma they are free from the Fire Dept. and they will install them for you.....who would even want to live without your children..........poor babies.

Jenn

This is such a sad sad story and unfortunately things like this happen far too often because there are no working detectors in the home. I agree that firemen wouldn't be able to drag me out of the house without my children, but we don't know for certain that the mother wasn't trying and that's how she was burned. She threw one child out, I'm sure she was trying to get to the others.

For those of you who are posting stupid things such as "ban duplexes, ban fire, ban whatever", shame on you. STFU & find another story.

Jenn, I worked with an incredible woman who felt the same about her girls. She went back in to save them and all 3 died, though I hope she made it to her babies first. She was an incredibly amazing woman.

Jenn--while I agree that this is a horrible tragedy, the basis for it started years ago, when this mom decided to have 5 kids, with no baby daddy in evidence. The fact is, that is a circumstance that compounded the lack of funding to live in a modern place, with enough money to pay the utility bills (possible furnace repairs?) with working smoke detectors, etc.

I feel desperately sorry for the parents, but I feel MORE sorry for the kids, who did not ASK to be born into a family that didn't THINK of the possible problems of having kids they couldn't comfortably and SAFELY afford.

As to why mom, grandma, and the older of the kids survived? Could it BE they were watching TV in another part of the home?

Jenn-there was an article a few months ago about how there are several different types of smoke detectors that all work for different types of fires. If the type of fire that happens in your home and the type of smoke detector that you have match up, great. Otherwise there are many cases where the detectors simply don't sound until it's too late, if at all.

The mother in this instance was able to save one of her children, but nothing in the article indicates that she didn't attempt to save them all-all we know is that she was sadly and tragically unsuccessful. It says that the mother was severely burned, so it does sound like she was making that attempt. The article doesn't state whether the mother was dragged out of the house, still struggling, or if firefighters found her unconscious, and brought her out of the house, or if she walked out on her own power. As Momaid states, it is very possible that the three survivors were in a different area/room of the house, and access to the other children was blocked by the fire before they could get there.

Jenn I know you love your children and I am betting the parents and grandparents in these tragedies loved theirs as well. I know that I would do everything in my power to save my family but since I have not suffered a large percentage of my body to flames, I cannot say that would not stop me in my tracks. All I can say is I am so saddened for the families and the loss of their loved ones and it is not my place to lay blame, especially when they are suffering some of the worst emotional pain possible.

god sure didn't bless those four kids, did he?

It's time to put you mental midgets back into your padded rooms.

Go to bed Patrick, your remark is in extremely poor taste.

Blood is on their hands!

Agreed. My post was directed to him as well.

Patrick22233 is a chronic masturbator, and a pizza faced 15 year old loser who thinks his idiotic posting is brilliant.

Is this now a permanent feature of the mentally impaired? Every single time someone dies, from any cause at all, will the mentally impaired flock here as one to scream, "ban it?"

The Newtown shootings happened before Christmas.

Can we be done with this immature "ban it" garbage now? Ever?

Can we be done with this immature "ban it" garbage now? Ever?

No, they are never going to get it. Just give up and ignore their stupidity. It's like trying to reason with a doorknob.

To bring anything remotely political, satirically or otherwise, into a discussion regarding these fires and the loss of children's lives, just shows your level of immorality. Patrick, I assume the 2233 following your name is the sum total of your IQ. In case you can't add, it's 10.

Kynetick--while I agree with you that this article is not the place to make points against knee jerk reaction 'gun bans', the fact is, I feel the SAME way about the gun ban posts on the school shooting articles, on the theater shooting articles, etc.

Banning guns will only result in the BAD guys being the only ones who have them.

Banning 'matches, lighters, space heaters, electricity, etc, will ALSO not stop fires from killing kids.

Something is terribly selfish in your character that you would deem it necessary to carry the proposed regulation of fire arms into this discussion. This is about an accident, a tragedy!

Ban Doorknobs!!!!

You are a doorknob.

Because when children are killed by guns everyone immediatly screams to ban guns. When children are killed in other ways nobody ever wants to change anything because it would effect them. Can't ban cars, knives, alcohol, etc. because everyone uses them. Guns aren't the leading causes of death but they seem to take most of the heat.

I agree this isn't the place for it but get used to seeing it whenever you read an article where someone dies. They will continue to point out the hypocracy.

TraceyG, the USA has instituted improved child restraint systems for motor vehicles, we have mandatory life jacket usage in boating, some communities have fencing requirements for swimming pools, and we have increased school bus safety. Many improvements in child safety have occurred. Same by legal requirements, some by market demand.

While we have made great strides in improving the safety in cars and boats, no one ever called for the restriction of use or possible banning of these very dangerous vehicles.

DavidHoffman--see, I live on the lake of the Ozarks, and I ALL the time see kids in boats without proper life preservers, kids in cars NOT in safety seats, and school buses are ALL unsafe.

ALL depend on the cooperation of the adult in charge in obeying the law, and on the serendipity of other people ALSO obeying the law.

The same is true of gun control--the bans will NOT control the BAD people getting them.

And by the way? I'd like to know if ANY of the 'adults' in either of these fires were smokers. Never MIND the risk of fire, those kids' lives and health will have been endangered since the moment the pregnancy began, and NO one thinks of banning SMOKING.

Thank you MOmaid, I was thinking the same thing. And by the way legal gun purchases are the most regulated/monitored item out there. You only have to prove you are over 21 to buy alcohol, but you have to wait a few weeks to get your gun. And then only after a background check has been done. Any Tom, Dick, or Harry can walk in and buy a car from a third party (without proof of insurance or license) and then drive into a crowd of people. Where is the justice?

At least a waiting list.

Perhaps they could sue the builder of the duplex!

Is this now a permanent feature of the mentally impaired? Every single time someone dies, from any cause at all, will the mentally impaired flock here as one to scream, "ban it?"

The Newtown shootings happened before Christmas.

Can we be done with this immature "ban it" garbage now? Ever?

Kynetick, no, they'll never be done with it. It's the only thing they have that makes them feel clever.

Duplex control: think of the children!

Also, perhaps some stronger laws mandating smoke detectors and flame-proof furniture, carpeting, and interior finishes.

So many people and manufacturers to blame and sue! So much money to be made by attorneys!

What a tragedy. But you know this is coming.

peteMT,

Maybe a mandate that every flammable structure in the country be condemned and demolished and replaced with one that's made of solid steel with nothing flammable inside - at the owner's expense, of course.

Also outlaw matches, gas, lighters, open flames of any kind, concealed flames etc.

Is this now a permanent feature of the mentally impaired? Every single time someone dies, from any cause at all, will the mentally impaired flock here as one to scream, "ban it?"

The Newtown shootings happened before Christmas.

Can we be done with this immature "ban it" garbage now? Ever?

Are you a gun owner? Are you having your constitutional rights "discussed" as possibly being modified or taken away from you because of an incident that was totally out of your control? And was done by a person who had some serious mental illness? Perhaps, if you weren't so "mature", you could understand how it can have an effect on people. The ridiculousness of banning guns is the same as the ridiculousness of banning a duplex or anything that is flammable. Until people can get that, I am sure you will continue to hear the "ban it garbage"..

Tracy--well put.

Ban everybody who disagrees with me!!!!! :(

Tracy, no. I am not a gun owner. I don't call for them to be banned, either.

People don't like feeling as if they have no control, so they try to control whatever they can. Video games, movies, even guns...these are not the problem. People are the problem. But we know we can't control others, so in a desperate attempt to feel as if we're "doing something," we go for those things we can control. We just don't seem to realize that since those things aren't the problem, we aren't solving a thing.

I understand where you are coming from, Kathryn, however, discussion is a good thing and there are a lot of negative situations in the world and differing opinions. I'd like to amend your statement to: " If you can't say something CONSTRUCTIVE. please don't come on these threads." We won't get anywhere by putting our heads in the sand or blowing rainbows in each other's faces.

Never let a good crisis go to waste???

I learned that from anti-American progressives???

jpooch00 just proved your point, even if he is nothing more than a zit-faced teenager, sitting in his bedroom with the door locked, so his mommy doesn't catch him touching himself while he watches manga porn and plays WoW with his peers.

I agree Kathryn. Soooooooo many nasty people these days. Terrible

Kathryn Sullivan,I thank you for being one of the adults with a heart.I can't for the life of me imagine what these two mothers are going through.People should take a moment to consider their remarks before posting.

Kathryn, it's much worse than you think. America has become a nation of ibeciles, control freaks, mindless opinionated monkeys, with grossly incorrect doctrines and beliefs that are all over the ideology map. In short, we are on the brink of moral and social destruction, which is the same virus that infected Rome internally and brought her down to a slow vile death. What you see on these boards is merely a shadow of the disgusting real world.

I knew they would delete my comment. I even included that prediction!

Guess I'm psychic!

redhand32,You are way off topic.this is a news article about 8 children losing their lives due to house fires.Can you try to have a little compassion for these families and respect for your fellow posters.

Too bad you didn't have the opportunity to live in Nazi Germany as a Jew. I imagine your opinion would be vastly different than what it is today, assuming you lived through it.

wtf???

Hunh?? <snicker>

If Angels were there, don't you think they could have put out the fire? LOL!

Nobody was there and nobody ever is. You get what you get in this life. And it is rarely fair.

Well, I went to ask God about that. But when I got to his house, the sign on the door said that "the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost caught the last train for the coast, the day the music died." So there you have it. They're gone.

Bill, now that's funny! :-)

OK... So where were YOU?

Yeah. Thought so.

Robert, I was at your home taking care of you wife's sensual needs while you were out getting drunk. But if I had been next door to the family in this article, I would have been pulling children out of the burning home. How about you? LOL!

Condolences never help anyone and prayers go nowhere. If you want to really help, please send money.

You ever been fishing? ;-)