Three young siblings and their grandmother tragically died in a house fire in Texas after they tried to use a fireplace to stay warm.
Colette, Edison, Olivia Nguyen, and their 75-year-old grandmother died on Tuesday morning at their home during a statewide power crisis.
The fire may have started from a fireplace that their mother, Jackie, had lit up to keep their home warm.
“We don’t know what happened. We don’t know why the lights went out like that. The city should have been prepared for it. Why was the power off? If the power wasn’t off, this wouldn’t have happened,” the children’s grieving aunt, Vanessa Kon, told The Daily Beast.
She said that the family is still waiting for answers on how the fatal blaze started.
Colette was 5, Edison, 8, and Olivia was 11, Their father, Nathan Nguyen, is separated from their mother and did not live with them.
Authorities were called to the home around 2 am and found the property engulfed in flames. A fire official said that one of the first responders had to restrain Jackie from running back inside the burning house.
Nathan shared the devastating news on Facebook, writing: “Hi everyone. The loss of Olivia, Edison and Colette is unbearable and your love and support mean so much to me and my family. Many of you have asked what you can do. My sister has created this GoFundMe page to honor the children on my behalf. Thank you so much for your love and prayers.”
The GoFundMe page set up by Vanessa Kon has raised more than $170,000 of its $200,000 goal.
“My brother lost 3 beautiful children on Tuesday, February 16, 2021 to a house fire during the Houston power outages,” she wrote.
“These angels were witty, funny, each with their owners funky and sassy attitudes, and each were extremely loved by me and the entire family.
“This is a tremendous loss to my brother, their father, to all of us, and we are trying to live and deal with this unbearable pain.”
Vanessa continued: “So to keep them alive in our hearts, in lieu of flowers, Nathan, their father, is starting a foundation in honour of his children, including helping with tuition assistance at St. Laurence Catholic School and to raise awareness about fire safety to prevent this tragedy from happening to other families.”
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