Pre-dawn fire kills 4 children, 1 adult in rural Ky. mobile home with 14 people inside

4 children, 1 adult die in Ky. mobile home fire

SULPHUR WELL, Ky. — A pre-dawn fire killed four children and an adult Wednesday in a rural Kentucky mobile home with 14 people inside.

The blaze destroyed or damaged three mobile homes where one family resided — one used for living space, the other two for storage, said Kentucky State Police Capt. Greg Baird.

“I heard a boom — I mean a big boom — about 2 a.m.,” said neighbor Janet Heuer, 70, adding the family had lived on the sprawling, trash-strewn property for three decades. “I never dreamed it would be the trailer with all those people in it.”

Seven people were taken to a hospital in Glasgow with non life-threatening injuries. Two more were flown to University of Louisville Hospital, police said, and one was treated and released and the other was listed by the hospital in stable condition.

Five bodies were found in the rubble and sent to Louisville for autopsies and identification, state police Det. Andy Olson said. He said the victims’ names would be released after autopsies were completed.

The mobile home was in Sulphur Well, a rural community about 100 miles south of Louisville.

The children were ages 1, 2, and 3, and a fourth child was 11 or 12, according to the state fire marshal’s office.

“It’s like it’s not real,” said Rhonda Ennis, a relative from a nearby town.

Baird said police responded to the fire around 2:20 a.m. The cause was still being investigated, although he said there were no early indications that it was suspicious. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the home had a smoke detector.

The brick foundation of one mobile home was still smoldering hours later. A second, heavily damaged unit was situated adjacent to the first in an “L” shape. A third home nearby had the least damage but its windows were blown out.

Other, older mobile homes that did not appear habitable littered the property along with small sheds, a swingset, broken children’s toys and broken furniture. A sign on the side of a barn on the property said, “We do work on small and large motors.”

Associated Press Writers Dylan T. Lovan in Louisville, Ky.; Jeffrey McMurray in Lexington, Ky.; and Randall Dickerson in Nashville, Tenn., contributed to this story.