Six Young Children, Rescuer Die In Early Sunday House Fire

Six young children and a man who tried to save them died in a house fire early Sunday as neighbors held back a screaming grandmother who begged to be let back in her home.

“I grabbed her and was holding her tight,” Michael Brown said of Nattie Sims. “She said, ‘Don’t hold me while my kids are burning.”’ “Those kids were hollering,” he said. “That’s something you never want to hear.”

The six grandchildren ranged in age from 4 to 9. Also killed was Charlie Lemons, 65, who was visiting when the house caught fire.

Lemons fled the house when the fire broke out but he rushed back inside to get the children.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation, but police said it was accidental. A relative, Ruthie Rhodes, said the gas at the house had been shut off and Sims was using electric space heaters.

Sims, 64, was in serious condition with severe burns Sunday at a hospital.