13-Year-Old Oklahoma Boy Dies Trying to Save Paralyzed Dad From House Fire
January 19, 2018An Oklahoma boy died in a fire at his family’s Marietta, Oklahoma, home on Wednesday as he attempted to save his paralyzed father from the blaze, PEOPLE confirms.
James Cummins, 60, and two of his children attempted to flee the home at around 1 a.m. after the fire broke out, Judah Shepard, with the Oklahoma Fire Marshall’s office, tells PEOPLE. The boy tried to rescue his father, who uses a wheelchair, as the flames spread, but both died in the home.
“This family is just sleeping and the son is doing what he can to protect and save his dad,” Love County Sheriff Marty Grisham said, according to the Sun Herald.
Shepard says the family relied on multiple space heaters to keep warm in their mobile home, and Cummins’ wife and daughter were out buying propane when the fire erupted in the living room. Along with Cummins and the boy, Cummins’ 16-year-old daughter was in the house at the time and was injured in the blaze, he tells PEOPLE.
Love County Emergency Administration
She called her parents and sought help, he adds. A neighbor, Francisco Sanchez, told KXII that the teen daughter ran to his home when the fire broke out.
“The daughter is coming, knocking on my door and when I see it I’m scared because I don’t know what’s going on,” Sanchez told the station.
Shepard says the wife and daughter returned to find the house engulfed in flames.
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“It’s my friend and I try to do my best but I can’t do nothing because the fire is so bad and the wife started to cry, cry, cry and I feel so bad,” he said.
Shepard says the official cause of the fire has not been determined, but investigators believe the space heaters contributed to the blaze. He tells PEOPLE that the family is now staying with relatives.
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“Marietta’s a very tight-knit, family-oriented town,” Shepard says. “We’ll all come together … to help this family move forward and deal with this tragedy.”
The names of the children have not been released and the Cummins family did not immediately respond to a request for comment from PEOPLE.