CHARLOTTE, N.C. --
The Charlotte Fire Department said three family members, including two young children, were killed after their apartment caught fire early Saturday morning. The only survivor was an 18-year-old boy.
Firefighters got three separate calls just after 1 a.m. for a fire at the Silver Oaks Apartments on Monroe Road in east Charlotte. One of those calls was from the surviving 18-year-old. When they arrived two minutes later, firefighters said the building was completely engulfed in flames.
"Already this two-story apartment unit had fire conditions racing from one end to the other," said Charlotte Fire Department Capt. Rob Brisley. "One of the family members had escaped and was waiting there for firefighters to arrive."
That survivor was the 18-year-old who made one of the 911 calls.
Investigators said the mother in the burning building died at the scene. Her two children, ages 13 and 2, later died at the hospital. Their names have not been released.
Though the cause of the fire has not been determined, Brisley called the cause "unfortunate accidental circumstances."
The American Red Cross is helping at least one other family that was displaced because of the fire. No one else was hurt.
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