The family is now gathering funds for burials and a new house.
A southern California family is celebrating their first Christmas without two young daughters who died in a fire started by a Christmas tree.
Barstow firefighters were summoned to the area shortly before 7 p.m. Dec. 14 after receiving multiple reports of a house fire with children trapped inside, according to a social media post from the department.
Charmon and Akeem Isom told FOX 11 Los Angeles that they did everything they could to save their family before firefighters came, but Aalijah and Annie Isom, both 2, were stuck.
“You run, and you try to do as much as you can,” Charmon Isom explained. “Break windows, rush in, try to get in, try to get under fire.” I have (first-degree) burns on my feet from attempting to enter there.”
To find the girls, firefighters had to jump through two separate bedroom windows. According to the Barstow Fire Protection District, they were turned over to police officers who hurried them to ambulances. The girls were taken to a nearby hospital.
According to family members, they first lost Aalijah. Annie was rushed to a burn center and placed on life support, but she died after a week of fighting when her parents decided to let her go. Following her death, the 7-year-old’s organs were donated.
A vigil was held for the girls on Saturday, during which their father stated, “There is no amount of money, no amount of valuables that can bring my children back.”
The family is now gathering funds to pay for the girls’ funerals as well as to assist the rest of the family in finding new housing. It is thought that the smoke alarms in the home they lost did not operate.
The Los Angeles Fire Department maintains a website dedicated to the hazards that Christmas trees can pose inside houses, as well as safety suggestions.
“It can take seven years to grow a Christmas tree … and seven seconds for it to become an inferno,” it says on the page.
