Although he was able to shepherd Eva Arreola and the couple's 2-year-old daughter safely outside, Jacobo couldn't break through the flames to save his four children, who were trapped in their bedroom on the other side of the family's two-bedroom tin trailer.
''He was trying to run back in, but it lit up so fast,'' said neighbor Mark Quayle, who lives across the street and was one of the first people to respond.
Sheriff's officials identified the children as: Jose, 12, Belen, 10, Giovany, 8, and Jazmin, 7.
Quayle said Jacobo tried frantically to break a side window and run a hose through it, as powerful flames blew out the back windows of the 12-by-50-foot trailer.
Because the roof was metal, firefighters said the flames rolled around inside like a tornado.
''Those older trailers are wood _ a wood frame and wood paneling _ surrounded by tin,'' said Buckeye Valley Fire District spokesman Mike Linderman. ''It's just like a pressure cooker.''
Quayle said the fire was so loud that he couldn't hear the children inside, but the mother's wails echoed.
''The mother was so hysterical, I can't believe she wasn't unconscious by the time help arrived,'' Quayle added.
The family lived in an older model trailer on an acre plot in Buckeye, a rural town 30 miles west of Phoenix.
The fire completely gutted the home and only a small portion of a wooden wall that had been added on remained. Several chickens in the yard were covered in soot.
Investigators were still trying to find the cause of the fire Monday afternoon, but had determined that it started in the center of the home.
Linderman said Jose Jacobo told firefighters that the family had smoke alarms in the home and that he checked the batteries regularly. However, Jacobo said the alarms were not going off when he awoke Monday morning.
''Just the horror. It's something that you just don't ever want to see ... something you'll keep seeing in your mind for a long time,'' said Linderman, who helped pull the small bodies from the rubble. ''It's something I never want to see again.''
At Rainbow Valley Elementary School, which all four children attended, Principal Mike Cagle said he spent Monday morning going around to classrooms with counselors to explain what happened to the Arreola children.
Jacobo and his wife were staying with relatives on Monday.
''They're devastated,'' said Sofia Arreola, a family relative. ''They're crying out for their children. They want their children.''
