2 boys, 4 and 6, killed in Wenatchee duplex fire

WENATCHEE, Wash. — Two boys, ages 4 and 6, were killed and their father suffered serious burns in a fire at duplex. When firefighters arrived at about 10:45 p.m. Thursday, flames poured out of the main floor windows and a few windows on the upper floor, said Mark Yaple, assistant fire chief with the Wenatchee Fire Department. “It was a very difficult fire to put out,” Yaple told The Wenatchee World. He estimated that fire crews fought the fire for about 25 minutes before extinguishing the flames. “The firefighters I interviewed indicated to me that no one could have survived, or been alive on the main floor when they arrived,” Yaple said. The father was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. Federal agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are helping Wenatchee police and fire department investigators determine the cause of the fire, KPQ reported. Residents in the second-floor apartment escaped safely. Adriana Luna said her fiance shook her awake yelling, “Fire!” They live with other family members on the upper floor of the house. “My whole room was engulfed in smoke,” the 30-year-old said. “First thing I did was look for my kid, but she was already out the door so I put on my shoes and off I ran.” Luna said she heard loud popping sounds and glass breaking. Flames shot up the side of the house as she ran out. “If we would have been there 10 more minutes we would have been gone,” she said. She saw a man downstairs and heard him yelling, “My kids are inside. My kids are inside,” Luna said. “We were just coming out . and that’s when we heard,” she said, choking back tears. “Screaming. They were screaming.” No one could go back inside because of flames, Luna said. The dead boys’ mother was not home at the time, said police Sgt. John Kruse.