2 young children, great-grandmother die in Conroe fire

Smoke detectors were old, did not signal the blaze

Two children and their great-grandmother were killed and four other family members were injured early Saturday after they were trapped by an intense, smoky fire that swept through their Conroe home.

Fire investigators said the home’s older, electric-powered smoke detectors failed as the single-story, brick home in the 16200 block of Long Valley Court filled with “smoke and toxic fire gases.” Montgomery County Fire Marshal Jimmy Williams said the fire was so hot that it melted a firefighter’s boot.

“This family is going through the worst possible tragedy that anybody can imagine,” he said.

A 6-year-old boy and his great-grandmother, who was in her 90s, died at the scene. An 18-month-old girl was taken by Life Flight to Texas Children’s Hospital, where she died, said authorities, who have not yet released the names of the victims.

The fire broke out in the kitchen around 2:30 a.m. and quickly spread to the living room and attic. Firefighters, who responded within minutes of receiving the alarm, used thermal-imaging equipment to see through the thick smoke inside the home, where they found the great-grandmother in the living room and the boy and the girl in a back bedroom.

“This family is going through the worst possible tragedy that anybody can imagine.” Jimmy Williams, Montgomery County fire marshal

Their mother, 30, was found crawling out of the home, and their 28-year-old father suffered second- and third-degree burns while trying to reach the children’s bedroom, investigators said. Their two surviving sons, ages 5 and 7, were apparently rescued by a neighbor who entered the home before firefighters arrived and found the children crawling through the smoke, investigators said.

All four survivors were hospitalized for smoke inhalation and other injuries. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Nick Nunez, standing across the street from scene of the fire, said the tragedy might have been worse had neighbors not reacted. He described the family as quiet people who mostly kept to themselves. The children sometimes played outside his home while their great-grandmother sat outside watching.

Shaken neighbors

Nunez couldn’t help but think of the heartache the parents will face.

“They are going to make it, but they lost their two youngest, especially a baby,” he said. “That’s going to be very traumatic on them.”

Nunez, who works as as a commercial construction superintendent, said all of the homes on the street had been built in the last 15 years. He said that power can be knocked out when the electric systems are damaged or overwhelmed, thus rendering smoke alarms useless unless they have backup batteries.

“Even if you wake up, you’re going to have to crawl under a layer of smoke,” he said.

That’s similar to what investigators believe happened, Williams said. He advised residents to check their own alarms to confirm they’re equipped with a backup battery.

One of the children is a student at San Jacinto Elementary School, according to the school’s Parent-Teacher Organization, which is planning a benefit for the family.

Others took to social media to ask what they could do to help the family.

“I don’t even know the (family’s) name, but they are neighbors,” one woman wrote on NextDoor, an online community message board. “They have not only lost everything but will be faced with the cost of three funerals.”

‘It affects everybody’

Williams said the loss of life weighed heavily on everyone. It was the second fire in 13 months to claim the lives of young children in the Conroe area.

Three children, all 13 or younger, were killed in May 2017 after fire engulfed their home in the unincorporated Tamina community, a few miles south of Conroe. Some of the firefighters who responded to the Saturday blaze also were at the Tamina fire, Williams said.

“It’s difficult for any of us that have small children,” he said. “You can say that you may try to insulate yourself from them, but it affects everybody. We have some children that are probably seen in the street playing all the time that are no longer here.”