A community is clinging to hope after a horrific house fire in Clifton, Virginia, badly injured two young children Wednesday, neighbors say.
Two people were rushed to a hospital with life-threatening injuries after being pulled from a burning home in the 13900 block of Whetstone Manor Court, Fairfax County Fire & EMS said. Three others have lesser injuries.
Fire officials would not confirm the ages or relationships of the five people who were in the home when the fire broke out. However, multiple neighbors said they were three children and their grandparents, who were watching the kids while their parents were at work. There was no school Wednesday due to the Eid holiday.
Thick, dark smoke cast a shadow on the firefighters racing to knock down the raging fire as two young kids were trapped inside. Firefighters found them fairly quickly and pulled them outside.
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Neighbors told News4 they watched as EMS crew members performed CPR on two young children outside the home before they were rushed to a hospital by ambulance.
Video from the scene showed a badly charred home. The exterior of the first floor was blackened, and rescue ladders were extended to the second floor, where smoke damage was visible around the window frames.
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Oldest child escaped from home and called 911, neighbors say
Fairfax County fire officials said they received a 911 call about 9 a.m. about smoke inside the home.
A neighbor ran out when she spotted the smoke and saw one of the children out on the lawn on the phone with 911. Fire officials would not confirm who made the 911 call, but multiple neighbors said it was one of the children who called while his siblings were still inside the burning home.
Soon after, the grandparents were able to make it out.
"I saw an elderly couple coming out from the house," neighbor Nishit Sahay said. "They were extremely scared."
Neighbors say the grandparents tried to get the other two kids out, but the fire was too intense.
When firefighters arrived, smoke was pouring from the home, and flames were beginning to show. At least three people were already accounted for at that point, they said.
"The fire started becoming intense," Sahay said. "It was so intense that it took some time for fire people to take control of it. But they eventually do it, but the scary part is that [I] came to know that there were two children inside the home."
The fire went to two alarms and was extinguished by noon, according to an X post by Fairfax County Fire & EMS.
Neighbors told News4 they regularly see the children on walks with their dad.
"He walks his children in front of the house every day with his dogs," neighbor Raj Sinha said. "So I'm still processing it. It's very hard."
The family's two dogs were also inside at the time of the fire. Firefighters rescued them, and they survived.
One of the badly injured children is elementary school-aged, and the other is under 5, they said. Neighbors are offering support to the kids' father, who was at work when the house burned.
"Any help he needs or anything, my house is open," Sinha said.
Neighbors have been walking around and checking on each other.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
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