A West Virginia father and his four children died in a massive house fire over the weekend, leaving the children's mother and surviving daughter with “absolutely nothing.”
Hunter Campbell, 28, died in a fire early Saturday morning at his home in Hardy County, along with four of his children, ages 1 to 5, police said. News & Observer.
First responders were alerted to the fire around 5 a.m. local time. West Virginia State Fire Marshal said:.
“[One] “The adult female was able to escape the fire and was transported to a local medical facility,” the statement added.
“Due to the extensive damage to the building, the cause of the fire is considered unknown. No smoke alarms were found among the rubble,” the article explains.
The bodies of the father and his four children were sent to the West Virginia State Medical Examiner's Office for autopsy, officials said.
Campbell's fiance, Candy Stroderman, survived the fire, her friend said in a Facebook post.
In addition to Campbell, Stroderman is also grieving the loss of her two stepchildren and the son she shared with Campbell, the friend explained.
Stroderman and her daughter also survived the fire, but are now “nothing.”
It is unclear whether Stroderman's surviving daughter was in the home at the time of the fire.
As of Tuesday afternoon, a GoFundMe for Stroderman and her daughter had raised more than $60,000 of its $65,000 goal.
A second fundraiser for the mother of Stroderman's stepchildren also raised more than $16,000 of its $25,000 goal.
The main damage to the home where Campbell and her children died was in the living room, where investigators found the remains of a space heater, Deputy State Fire Marshal Jason Bartik said. told Metro News on Monday..
However, Baltic said authorities cannot determine whether the heater caused the fire based on the extent of the damage.
“Everything in that living room was completely destroyed. There was nothing left there, the floor, everything, everything was gone,” he lamented.
Baltic emphasized that the main problem was the lack of fire alarms in the houses.
“This is a huge way to prevent this from happening. There are countless lives lost due to lack of smoke detectors and smoke alarms,” he claimed.
