Feb. 04--Winston-Salem police are investigating why two children critically injured in a fire Thursday night were left alone.
Firefighters found a 3-year-old boy and a 9-year-old girl unconscious at the house on 1809 Trellis Lane, off La Deara Crest Lane near 25th Street. The children's mother, Ebony Mack, and their grandmother, with whom the children lived, were not in the house when police and firefighters got there about 11:40 p.m. Thursday.
The grandmother had left the house about 6 p.m. that night. Later that night, Mack also left. Investigators are still trying to determine when Mack left, said Capt. David Clayton of the Winston-Salem Police Department.
Clayton said investigators have talked to the mother but want to confirm information and find out why she left the children alone.
No criminal charges have been filed. Forsyth County Child Protective Services is investigating, Clayton said.
The fire started in a room in the back of the house on the left side, said Norman Mitchell, a deputy fire marshal with the Winston-Salem Fire Department. Smoke and heat spread throughout the structure, and the two children, whom police did not name, were in a bedroom on the right side of the house.
Firefighters went inside, found the children and performed CPR, according to a news release from the police department. They were taken to Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, where they are listed in critical condition.
Mitchell said investigators are still trying to determine the cause of the fire.
On Friday morning, a child-size suitcase with a hole burned through it sat among several piles of children's clothes. Several windows were blackened out by smoke, but there was no visible damage on the outside of the house.
Shante Baker lives next door and called 911 after her cousin Shaquelle Cornell went outside and smelled smoke. Baker was standing in the yard when firefighters brought out the girl.
"It just hurt to see that baby," she said Friday. "It hurt. Being there alone, it doesn't make sense."
Anyone with information should call the Winston-Salem Police Department at (336) 773-7700 or Crime Stoppers at (336) 727-2800.
Copyright 2012 - Winston-Salem Journal, N.C.
