A mother and eight children were killed when a fire tore through a Kentucky home on Thursday morning, authorities said.
Nine of an 11-member family were found dead in the house fire that erupted in a Muhlenberg County home in the middle of the night, said Trooper Stuart Recke, Kentucky State Police public affairs officer. Two parents and their nine children lived in the single-story home, Recke said.
On Thursday afternoon, Kentucky State Police identified the mother as Larae Watson, 35, and the eight children killed: Madison, 15; Kaitlyn, 14; Morgan, 13; Emily, 9; Samuel, 8; Raegan, 6; Mark, 4 and Nathaniel, 4.
The father and an another child escaped the fire and were flown to a Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville about 120 miles away for treatment, Recke said.
Leslie Hill, a Vanderbilt Medical Center spokeswoman, said Chad Watson, 36, and Kylie Watson, 11, were both in critical but stable condition.
Harold McElvain, a former Muhlenberg County Sheriff who lives across the street, said the family was “a nice young family.”
“Everybody loved the kids,” McElvain said.
Laura Bennett, who lives two doors down from the devastated house, said the nine children ranged in ages from 4 to 15.
Bennett said that Samuel, one of the children who died in the flames, was playing at her house on Wednesday night with her 8-year-old daughter.
“He went home and then 10 hours later he’s gone.”
A neighbor called the fire department around 2 a.m. on Thursday morning, Recke said, adding that firefighters have reported the house was “fully engulfed” when they arrive minutes later.
Crews put the fire out within an hour, Recke said. Still, “as I’m facing the house, the right side of the house is basically gone,” he added.
