Jan. 16--
GLOUCESTER -- Diane Saffell heard knocking at her back door on Summerville Road about 2:30 a.m. Wednesday and when she answered found her neighbor, the mother of three children, covered in soot.
Behind her neighbor, their two-story house was in flames.
"There was nothing you could do," Saffell said. "It was too late."
The fire claimed the lives of three young children of one family, ages 7, 2 and 6 months, and their grandmother, said Chief Dep. Ryan Cookson of the Gloucester County Sheriff's Office. The children's father was at work at the time of the fire, Cookson said.
The family was living with a set of grandparents, who initially escaped the flames. But the children's grandmother ran back into the house to try and rescue the children and died, Cookson said.
Within minutes of when Saffell dialed 911, Gloucester Sheriff's deputies and firefighters from Gloucester Volunteer Fire & Rescue Squad were at the house. They couldn't get close to it, however, because of the heat of the flames, Cookson said.
The Sheriff's Office has not identified the family.
"By the time my wife called the whole house was engulfed," said Fletcher Saffell, Diane Saffell's husband.
Fletcher Saffell described the family who lived in the house as quiet, keeping to themselves mostly. But his children played with the family's children, Saffell said.
"They are good people," Fletcher Saffell said. "They are real nice people."
Both Diane and Fletcher Saffell said they are still in shock. When her neighbor showed up, Diane Saffell gave her some clothes.
"No words could help her," Diane Saffell said. "I just hugged her."
It is the second time in three months tragedy struck the rural neighborhood of 16 homes on Summerville Road, a gravel lane off of Belroi Road in the Court House area of Gloucester. On Oct. 29, Summerville Road resident Donald Troy Durham died of injuries suffered in a wreck on Route 17 and his teenage daughter is still recovering from serious injuries.
The Durhams' vehicle was struck by a driver who police say had been drinking and taking drugs.
The fire destroyed a two-story home with four bedrooms; all that remained were two charred sections with the center of the house burned to the ground. The 1,500-square-foot home was built in 1988, according to county records.
One child who died in the fire attended Bethel Elementary School. Gloucester Superintendent Ben Kiser said the staff at Bethel and the "entire school community are quite saddened about this tragic incident and the loss of four lives."
Counselors, psychologists and visiting teachers were asked to be available at Bethel Elementary to assist the staff, students and families in processing the tragedy, Kiser said.
"The loss of a child, regardless of the circumstances, triggers so many emotions in adults and children that the school's immediate response is to embrace all as they cope with the loss of a friend and school family member," Kiser said. "Our prayers are extended to the family who is suffering tremendously."
Copyright 2013 - Daily Press (Newport News, Va.)
