5 children die in trailer-home fire in suburban Anchorage

PALMER, Alaska – Five children, all believed to be girls between the ages of 3 and 12, died in a trailer fire in suburban Anchorage on Thursday morning, authorities said.

The bodies will be sent to Anchorage for autopsies and to determine positive identification. Officials were not releasing much information, saying they have a complicated investigation ahead of them.

It was not immediately known if the girls were related or if there were adults in the trailer home at the time of the fire.

“There are a lot of unknowns,” Alaska Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Megan Peters said. “Essentially all the questions reporters have and people in the community have, we have those too.”

Peters said interviews were being conducted, and the fire marshal was working to determine the fire’s cause.

The home is down a dirt lane, off a major road in an undeveloped suburban area about 45 miles southeast of Anchorage. It is among several other homes in an area called The Butte, accessible by the Old Glenn Highway that takes traffic between Anchorage and Palmer.

Fire officials were notified of the blaze just before 7 a.m. The trailer was fully engulfed when firefighters arrived and were told there were five people unaccounted four.

Troopers initially said three bodies had been found and two people were still unaccounted for before increasing the death toll to five.

Beyond saying that all five bodies were found inside the trailer, Peters said she didn’t yet have a narrative of what happened.

“You don’t have to have kids for this to break your heart,” she said.

The names won’t be released until they get a positive identification from the state medical examiner. Peters didn’t have a timeframe on when the names would be released.

“When we have fires, especially when there are deaths involved, it takes a little more time,” she said.

Autopsies also will determine how the girls died, if it was from the fire, smoke inhalation or some other factor, Peters said.

No other mobile homes on the lane appeared to suffer any fire damage. Yellow police tape at the beginning of the lane kept reporters and onlookers at bay.

Peters said she didn’t know who owned the homes on the lane, or if they were all owned by the same people.

A fire marshal earlier told an Anchorage television station there were complicating factors to the fire. When asked to elaborate, Peters said, “All fires are complicated. This one is even more complicated by the face there are five deaths.”