Rescue Workers Had 'No Chance' to Save Children

A Pasco County Sheriff’s deputy was one of the first on the scene at a fatal fire in Moon Lake this morning.

When he arrived, a woman was standing outside the fully engulfed home at 10637 Wabayo St. saying there were babies inside.

She was “hysterical,” said Sheriff Chris Nocco.

The deputy, however, had “no chance at all to go in there,” Nocco said.

Pasco County Fire Rescue Chief Robert Davidson agreed.

“Our crews did attempt to (perform) a rescue,” he said, adding that the blaze was too involved to enable entry into the mobile home.

Two 3-year-old twins, a boy and a girl, neighbors say, died in the fire, Nocco confirmed.

“It’s an absolute tragedy,” he said. “You can never say the right words.”

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The county’s emergency services agencies received the call about the fire at 8:54 a.m. today, Nov. 12, Nocco said. Crews from fire rescue and the sheriff’s office both arrived on the scene shortly thereafter.

An investigation into the cause of the fire is under way. Davidson and Nocco wouldn’t release further details at this time, including the family’s name.

A Neighborhood Saddened

A group of neighbors gathered to watch as firefighters worked on the home late this morning.

Paulette Dorner lives just down the street from where the blaze broke out. Her teenage daughter is friends with the family’s two teenagers, she said.

“They were really cute kids,” Dorner said of the younger twins.

While she does not know the mother well, she said her daughter frequently hangs out with the family’s teenagers. She also liked to go down and play with the twins, Dorner said.

Her heart goes out to the family, she said.

Dorner said the family’s older children were in school when the fire broke out.

Stay with Patch for more details as they become available.

See also:

UPDATE: 3-Year-Old Twins Killed in Moon Lake Fire