Apartment fire kills 3 children

There was a tragic end to the story of an apartment fire in southeast Houston yesterday afternoon: Three children left at home with no adult supervision died, apparently from smoke inhalation. The 2-year-old twin girls and a 4-year-old boy were unconscious when firefighters pulled them from the burning apartment at 8250 Park Place; the kids died later at Memorial Hermann Hospital.

An older relative was reportedly watching the children Tuesday afternoon and left them with teenage family members while she went to the store. It's not clear where the teens went, but when firefighters arrived, they only found the three kids inside the apartment. A 15-year-old boy believed to be one of the teens who was supposed to be looking after the kids was injured trying to get into the building to save them, firefighters said. HFD rescue crews had a hard time reaching the kids because of a language barrier — the apartment complex is heavily Vietnamese, but no firefighter on the scene knew the language — and because they had to pry off wrought-iron gates blocking the apartment door.

Residents of the complex are planning a prayer meeting for the victims, and HFD sent stress management teams to the scene to help the firefighters who pulled the kids from the apartment. "We'll probably send those guys home ... It's traumatic," HFD Assistant Chief Tommy Dowdy said. "It was a very heroic effort on their part."