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Sisters, 9 and 13, Die in Hyattsville House Fire

Sisters, 9 and 13, Die in Hyattsville House Fire

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02-05-2011, 12:38 PM
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Sisters, 9 and 13, Die in Hyattsville House Fire

Two young sisters died after a fire swept through their family's home in Hyattsville, Maryland, before dawn on Jan. 19, 2011, while five other people inside the house escaped, according to the Prince George's County Fire/EMS Department.

The fire was reported just before 4 a.m. at a one-and-a-half-story wood-frame house in the 4700 block of 40th Avenue, fire officials said. Seven family members were inside. The parents, an uncle and two of the children got out, but 9-year-old Kimberly Hernandez and her 13-year-old sister, Kelli, were trapped.

About 75 career and volunteer firefighters from the Bunker Hill, Bladensburg, Hyattsville and Chillum-Adelphi companies responded and brought the fire under control in roughly 20 minutes, the department said. Crews found Kimberly on the first floor and Kelli in a second-floor bedroom. Both were in cardiac arrest with burns, and firefighters started CPR at the scene.

Kimberly died that morning at Children's National Medical Center of smoke and burn injuries, officials said. Kelli was stabilized at a Prince George's County trauma center and transferred to a Baltimore shock trauma unit, where she was placed in a hyperbaric chamber. She died five days later, on Jan. 24. Kelli's twin sister and a 4-year-old sibling were treated for smoke inhalation and survived, as did the parents, Marcos Antonio Zelaya and Ena Hernandez. Two firefighters were hurt and released.

The attached audio is the 911 call from the fire. The recording runs about eight minutes and captures a caller passing along information from occupants who had gotten out and warning a county dispatcher about downed power lines near the house. The department said the home had a hard-wired smoke alarm and that the father reported hearing it, though he was already awake because of the smoke.

Fire investigators classified the blaze as accidental, according to the department, which withheld the precise cause pending autopsy results. Local news reports said the fire was believed to have started from an electrical source. Damage was estimated at $350,000.

In the days after the fire, residents raised about $30,000 for the family through a relief fund, and a benefit was held at a nearby high school, organizers said. More than 500 people attended a viewing for Kimberly on what would have been her 10th birthday.
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