Mobile Home Fire Claims Lives of Man and 5 Young Children While Mother Was Working

A quick moving fire engulfed a mobile home in Tiffin, Ohio, on Sunday morning killing a man and five young children while the children's mother was away at work, according to the Associated Press.

Anna Angel, 30, lived at the mobile home with her boyfriend Timothy Fresch, 25, and her five children all under the age of seven. The youngest child, one-year-old Domanic, was the son of Fresch and Angel while the other four children were Angel's. Tiara Angel, 6; Stormie Huey, 5; Trinitie Huey, 4, and Sunshine Huey, 3 were the other children, according to the Toledo Blade.

A 911 call was made reporting the fire at 7:45 a.m. but by the time firefighters arrived on the scene at 7:48 a.m. the mobile home was already completely consumed by flames. While firefighters were able to remove the six inhabitants of the mobile home they would succumb to smoke inhalation, according to the Associated Press.

"She had a whole family and now she has nothing," Owanna Ortiz, Angel's cousin, told the Associated Press. "Her kids were her life."

Nancy Williams, the manager of the Highland Parks Estates mobile home park, made her son call 911 immediately upon hearing about the fire, according to the Associated Press.

"I knew there were babies in there," Williams said. "But once we got there, there was nothing we could do. It was fully engulfed in flames and we couldn't get in."

Witnesses to the fire were especially distraught because of the young children who lost their lives.

"I watched the babies get dragged out," Rick Hummell, a neighbor, told the Associated Press. "It just made me sick."

Members of the Bascom Joint Fire District, a volunteer firefighting department, were on the scene to assist the Tiffin Fire Department. Harry Miller, chief of the Bascom crew, told the Associated Press about how difficult it is when tragedies involve children.

"We had some new EMTs on the scene as well, and it's very tough on everyone when it involves kids," Miller said. "It hits home because we all have kids."

Ortiz told the Associated Press that even though the family was without a car and at times money was tight they were very happy.

"If she had to get somewhere, they had two strollers they had to take, but they made it work," Ortiz said. "They were always happy and full of sunshine. The older ones looked out for the younger ones."