I cried,.. ...

Children Die Trapped In Burning Spring Valley Home

Last Updated:
02-07-08 at 8:56PM

An 18-year-old man's attempt to stoke a fireplace with gasoline in his grandparents' East County home ignited a fast-moving fire that trapped and killed his three young cousins, authorities reported today.

Abbey Van Buskirk, 6, and her brothers, Andrew, 4, and Austin, 2, died last night as flames gutted the house in the 9000 block of Avocado Street in Spring Valley, according to the county Medical Examiner's Office.

The blaze erupted about 10:40 p.m., when the children's cousin, who was watching a movie on television with a group of friends, tried to stoke a dying fire in the home's fireplace by pouring gasoline on it, officials said.

One of the young man's companions, Cameron Bartlett, told reporters the gas spilled on the floor, setting it ablaze.

All the adults were able to escape after several of them tried in vain to save the three young siblings.

Neighbor Joanne Collier described hearing the children's shrieks as the house became engulfed in flames.

"It was a hysterical cry," she told a local news station. "You know, you could hear them screaming, and it was just -- it was horrible."

It took firefighters about 15 minutes to extinguish the flames. They then found the bodies of the children in the charred ruins of the house, said Sgt. Everard Dayrit of the sheriff's bomb-arson unit.

The youngsters' cousin, whose name was not immediately released, was taken to UCSD Medical Center in Hillcrest for treatment of serious burns to one of his hands.

The children had recently moved with their family to San Diego County from Texas, a coroner's investigator said.

 

On the radio,.. they said that ALL THE ADULTS GOT OUT OKAY,..... BUT THE SCREAMS of the three little kids went on and on.


HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN????

 

I would've died trying to save them.

I know me,... I couldn't have stood there and listened to those children.

V.

 

I know,.. I'm a parent,.. I shed tears and feel som serious hatred for people I don't know.

 

Served in the Coast Guard, Fought more than one fire,... been involved in more than one tragedy,.... hearing those children I could not have sat still.

Sigh.

What a horrible way to die.

 

Man this thread bumped down to the third page FAST!

 

Gee I hope so.

In fact,.. I want their mother to beat his azz. (Not the father,... Dad would probably kill him.)

 

Sorry,... but this hit me in the gut hard enough to share it.

 

You lose someone too?

 

Yup,... and scary,... how fast does a fire burn that you can't save babies?

I'm crying just thinking about how it must have been for them,....

 

Probably where my anger comes from,.. the sheer stupidity of what started it,.. and the lack of priority on the part of the grandparents,.. AND the lack of details as far as who went how far to save the kids.

Where were the parents?

What was the punk azz teen doing with gasoline in the house?

HOW CAN YOU FORGET THE LITTLE KIDS?????


v.