Grieving friends and loved ones gathered outside a Gwinnett County mobile home early Saturday to mourn the loss of a mother and her three young daughters killed hours earlier in an overnight fire.
In the yard of the burned-out trailer surrounded by yellow tape sat several of the children’s toys, including a blue soccer ball and a small pink tricycle.
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
“She was a good mom. She always took care of her daughters” neighbor Yacmin Coria told Channel 2 Action News as tears streamed down her face. “She’d do anything for (them).”
The deadly fire on Smoke Creek Parkway near Snellville began about 2:20 a.m., according to Gwinnett fire Lt. Donald Strother. Bystanders tried to get inside and rescue the family, but the heat and smoke were just too much, he said.
Firefighters arrived to find flames shooting through the roof of the trailer. Crawling through a side window of the burning home, they discovered two unconscious children and passed them to their colleagues outside.
“The (children) were immediately turned over to paramedics, but during patient care it was determined that the unconscious children had succumbed to their injuries,” Strother said.
Crews continued searching the home, later recovering the bodies of a woman and a third child.
Family members at the scene identified the woman killed as Isabela Martinez, Channel 2 reported. Her daughters were 6-year-old Alexa, 4-year-old Ashley and 1-year-old Daniela.
Credit: GoFundMe
Credit: GoFundMe
Alexander Diaz, the girls’ father, set up a GoFundMe page to help cover funeral expenses. The campaign had raised more than $28,000 as of Monday morning.
The children’s father called the young girls his “pride and joy.”
“It so hard for me right now that all four of them went away in a blink of an eye,” Diaz said on the fundraising page. “God knows they never did harm to anyone, they were so young and barely growing and learning to live life ... I am really broken inside knowing that I couldn’t save them and keep them safe.”
Firefighters believe the deadly blaze started at the back of the trailer before spreading through the home, though the exact cause remains under investigation.
The family’s pastor, Joaquin Contreras, arrived before sunrise to console the grieving father outside the home. He described the children as sweet. “They were very nice kids in the church,” Contreras told Channel 2. “They liked to hear stories about the Bible.”
He said his entire congregation is rallying behind the girls’ father.
Coria, the family’s neighbor who has five children, said she is heartbroken over the loss.
“It hurts,” she said. “You never know when it’s going to be your last day to be together as a family.”
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