| Stallings house fire kills two children Community rallies around family as investigators search for clues by Rob Tufano, WBTV reporter additional reporting by Alison Woo
Paula and her three daughters were inside the house at the time. One neighbor jumped his fence to help the mother and her daughters to safety. She escaped from the home with her 3-year-old daughter, who remained unharmed. When the fire was out, firefighters discovered two bodies inside. The Union County chapter of the Red Cross has been providing the Parry family with assistance. The fire consumed the family’s two-story home and they ran out of the house with only the clothes on their back. Kathy Bragg, executive director of Union County’s Red Cross Chapter, which assisted the family and emergency personnel, says that the Parrys’ pastor has set up an assistance fund. Financial contributions can be sent to the Parry Family Fund at Morningstar Lutheran Church, 12509 Idlewild Road, Matthews, NC 28105. Neighbors in the Country Woods East subdivision are doing their part. They held a candlelight vigil Thursday evening. On Wednesday, as firefighters tried to save the young girls, they held hands and prayed in the street for the children’s safety. Dave Thayers, the family’s neighbor, was the first on the scene. He said he heard a number of pops and a woman’s screams as flames tore through the home. “She was holding a baby in her arms and told me she had two other girls inside the house,” Thayers said. Thayers said he tried to save the children himself but the smoke was too thick. “It’s a shame there was nothing we could (do),” he added. “I wish we were here a couple of minutes earlier.” The fire started Wednesday, Dec. 27, at 4012 Cyprus Court and was first reported to emergency dispatchers at 12:56 p.m. Investigators say they are searching through charred debris to determine what caused the blaze. Union County deputy fire marshall John Williams is leading the investigation, along with the Stallings Police Department. Williams said the process is exhaustive. “It takes digging out several areas inside the house to find some evidence.” Fire crews from Hemby Bridge, Stallings and Mint Hill arrived on the scene within minutes and worked feverishly to rescue the girls. Stallings fire chief Ed Deason, who arrived with his crew shortly after the Hemby Bridge fire department, said, “The fire had a good hold on the residential structure and had already burned down when we arrived.” Deason, who has worked as a fire chief in Stallings for the past 18 years, said no effort was spared in trying to rescue the girls. “We did what we could – all that was possible – but sometimes even that is not enough.” |
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