Butler community mourns two toddlers who died in weekend house fire
As the Butler, Missouri, community mourns two toddlers who died in a house fire over the weekend, some residents are rallying round the family by collecting donations.
Aiden Oliver Huff, age 2, died in the fire along with another 2-year-old boy named Hunter, who had been staying with the Huff family at the time. Aiden’s parents Rachel and Jamie Huff, along with their 1-year-old daughter Arya, survived the fire.
The Huffs’ mobile home in rural Butler caught fire late at night on March 1 following an explosion. The Bates County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call reporting the fire around 11:30, according to Sheriff Chad Anderson.
First responders from twelve organizations assisted with efforts to extinguish the fire and evacuate the home’s occupants, including the Adrian, Butler, Central Cass and Rich Hill fire departments.
Firefighters were unable to reach Aidan and Hunter due to the quick and heavy spread of the fire, according to Anderson. Both boys were pronounced dead at the scene by the Bates County Coroner, while Arya, Rachel and Jamie Huff were taken to a local hospital for treatment.
Family friend Mickayla Eldridge, who organized a fundraiser on GoFund Me after the fire, remembers Aiden and Hunter as active, cheerful babies. The boys, who attended the in-home daycare run by Eldrige’s mother, loved the children’s character Bluey, Eldridge wrote, and had just been learning to speak full words.
“Both boys were so happy and outgoing,” Eldridge wrote. “... They were truly great kids.”
The GoFundMe fundraiser had raised about $9,750 as of Thursday afternoon.
The Carpenter’s Cup, a Christian bookstore and coffee shop in Butler, is currently collecting donations of clothes, baby essentials, food, gift cards and money.
Several other local organizations, including Black Dog Bakery and 92.1 News Now radio station, have also organized fundraisers benefiting the Huff family.
