1-year-old twins — a boy and a girl — die in KC house fire

Two 1-year-old twins — a boy and a girl — died in a house fire in the 3400 block of Woodland Avenue on Thursday, Kansas City Fire Department officials said.

The department received a call at about 2:30 p.m. and arrived to see fire and smoke billowing out of the top floor of the two-story house, said Deputy Fire Chief Jimmy Walker.

Four adults and six children were living there, and all the children were home when the fire broke out, he said. Several family members escaped but told firefighters there were still children inside.

Firefighters went in to try to find the children and fight the fire. It was mostly contained to the room where it started and where the children were eventually found — apparently a bedroom — but the fire was starting to spread across the second floor and into the attic, Walker said.

“We probably had the fire out within a matter of 5 to 10 minutes,” he said. “Guys were in there hitting it hard trying to find these kids.”

“It’s especially hard during the holiday times,” he added.

Fire investigators and the Kansas City Police Bomb and Arson Unit will be working at least through Friday to determine the cause of the fire.

As afternoon turned to evening, several people came to the scene to console and support the family.

“We’re just praying for the family and for the children,” said Linda Braxton, who has known the family for a couple of months, since they joined World Harvest Church up the block from the home. “We’re just so sad to hear of the loss of the children. Our prayers go out to everyone, just helping them get back together.

“As a family and as a church family, we’re going to do everything we can to help them get back to what it needs to be.”

This story was originally published December 27, 2018 at 2:44 PM.