Tragedy as 4 children die in Freckelton house fire

Four children have died after a fire broke out at their home in Freckelton in Lancashire.

The mother of the children, Michelle Smith, was rescued from the property but sadly, 4 children died after being taken to Preston Royal Infirmary. It is thought that the eldest son, Reece, 19, died trying to rescue his siblings four-year-old twins Holly and Ella Smith, and two-year-old Jordan.

Phil Cox from Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service, said officers were called to the house at around 11.20pm. He said: “As soon as the crews arrived it seemed quite a chaotic scene with a lot of people outside quite distressed. We sent in six firefighters who rescued four people and also led out one other person. We had police officers, fire officers and paramedics at the scene working on resuscitating the people brought out before they were taken to hospital.”

Detective Andy Murphy, of Lancashire Constabulary said: “We are trying to establish the cause of this fire. We are keeping an open mind at this stage as to what happened. We need to determine how many people were there and determine what happened.”

An investigation is now underway into the cause of the blaze.