Babysitter And Three Children Die In Nevada House Fire; Firefighters, Deputies Injured In Rescue Attempts

CRISTINA SILVA
Associated Press

LAS VEGAS - A babysitter and three young boys were killed in a rural Nevada house fire Wednesday morning that also left at least four rescuers injured, authorities said.



This image provided by the Pahrump Valley Times shows fire officials working to revive fire victims at the site of a mobile home fire Wednesday Feb. 9, 2011 in Pahrump, Nev. Authorities in this rural area of Nevada say three young children and a babysitter were killed in this house fire, and at least four people were injured trying to rescue them. No additional information.
(AP Photo/Pahrump Valley Times, Horace Langford Jr.)

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The children were 1, 3 and 4 years old, and the 24-year-old woman who was looking after the children was overcome by smoke while on the phone with a Nye County emergency dispatcher, Sheriff Tony DeMeo said.

The intensity of the fire in Pahrump, about 60 miles west of Las Vegas, initially turned rescuers back, he said.

Thick black smoke poured from the windows and doorways as firefighters entered the home, Pahrump Fire Chief Scott Lewis said. A deputy pulled one of the children from a window and administered first aid, and one firefighter sustained non-life threatening burns along his neck as he carried two children from the house, he said.

Another adult in the single-story, single-family manufactured home was injured, Lewis said. It took roughly 20 firefighters 40 minutes to snuff out the flames, he said.

An off-duty sheriff's deputy and two on-duty deputies also sustained nonlife-threatening injuries, DeMeo said.

The dispatcher who spoke with the babysitter was placed on emergency leave, and DeMeo said fire investigators planned to review the recording of the call. The recording was not immediately made public.

DeMeo said the state fire marshal was investigating the cause of the fire.

Jennie Wheeler, the woman who was listed as the owner of the house along with Charles Rodney Wheeler, declined to speak with a reporter.


"I can't talk about this - I'm too distraught," she said. "I really can't talk."

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Associated Press writer Ken Ritter in Las Vegas contributed to this report.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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my thoughts and prayers to the family and fire service. you tried your best.

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