MARTIN COUNTY KENTUCKY HOUSE FIRE FRIDAY MORNING LEAVES TWO YOUNG CHILDREN DEAD
TWO OTHERS ESCAPE FROM INFERNO, INCLUDING GRANDMOTHER
A devastating house fire mid-Friday morning in Martin County, Kentucky, led to the deaths of a 4-year-old and a 1-year-old, according to the Martin County Coroner Chris Todd’s Office.
Todd confirmed the names of the very young child victims as Greyson Marcum, 4, and Jason Lee Mollette, 1.
Both of the children were pronounced deceased at the scene after 9 A.M., according to Chris Todd.
The house where the fire happened was located on Tug River Road in the Turkey Creek area of Martin County.
When firefighting crews arrived, fierce flames were coming and ashes and smoke covering the surrounding area from the home, Martin County officials said.
Martin County 911 director and assistant Inez Fire Chief Nick Endicott said he was the first to enter the structure in an attempt to rescue the boys.
“I climbed in a window and brought Jason Mollette outside in the yard but he died while being transferred to an ambulance. The other child, the four year-old, was already deceased when we got to him,” Endicott said. The third child living in the home, a 6 year old kintergarten student, ran from the home with his grandmother, officials said.
“It was a terrible scene with the children dead and putting out the fire and all the commotion.”
According to the fire chief of Turkey Creek Fire Department, Homer Mills, two people were able to get out of the house. Grandmother of the boys, Vera Hammonds, 65, who lived in the home, was taken to the hospital after suffering smoke inhalation but was not badly injured.
Mills said it has not been determined how the fire started, and that the State Fire Marshal is investigating.
The bodies of both children will be transported to the State Medical Examiner’s Office in Frankfort for an official autopsy.