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BY MARK REAGAN AND MICHAEL RODRIGUEZ | STAFF WRITERS
A 9-year-old child died Wednesday morning following a fire at a mobile home in Donna.
Hidalgo County Fire Marshal Homero Garza said firefighters responded to 451 Julius Ave. at approximately 1:30 a.m.
“We were called, sheriff’s office was called as well, and it was just a tragedy, it hurts my heart to talk about it,” he said.
The fire department responded after a young girl woke to the smell of smoke, went and kind of looked around, looked outside and noticed that the southeast corner of the mobile home — where a family of five resides — was on fire, he said.
She was able to go back in and alert the other residents, who came out and did a headcount and noticed the 9-year-old boy was missing, he said.
After firefighters were able to put out the fire, which was in a restroom, they found the boy in an adjacent bedroom.
“It’s believed he was overwhelmed with the smoke, was unable to get out and unfortunately died,” he said.
Officials are waiting on an autopsy for an official cause of death.
While investigators can’t yet pinpoint the cause of the fire, fireworks and electrical fires have been ruled out.
“We’re working with the family now. We contacted the Hidalgo County Community Service Agency and the Red Cross and get them as much help as we can,” he said.
Garza said the fire department did a tremendous job in containing the fire and preventing it from spreading to other homes.
“It hurts my heart because it brings back all the wounds I’ve gotten, all the people who’ve died, we gotta deal with it in our own ways,” he said. “It’s unfortunate. All we can do is educate people on fire safety and we stress the importance of smoke alarms.”
Garza said that people should prepare an evacuation plan from their home so if something happens, they can get out and call 911. He also said people should not attempt to back in.
“We’ve seen situations where someone will go back in and they don’t come out,” Garza said. “It just hurts.”
Despite the terrible tragedy, Garza commended the firefighters on scene.
“I know they were devastated this morning but we gotta shine light on the positive,” he said. “They did a tremendous job of containing that fire and it didn’t spread to any other surrounding homes.”
