Firefighter Loses Entire Family To House Fire While He Was Out Tackling Wildfires

A firefighter tragically lost his entire family in a house fire.

Raul Garcia-Santos of Benton City, Washington, was out tackling the wildfires raging close to the Canadian border when his home was destroyed by a blaze that took his wife and three children.

Mr Garcia-Santos' wife Marcaria Garcia-Martinez, 32, their daughters Luz, 17, and Michelle, 6, and son Luis, 15, were all taken by the fire.

Benton County Coroner William Leach confirmed that the cause of death was asphyxia due to smoke inhalation.

According to reports, the family's trailer was engulfed in flames by the time the emergency services arrived to the call just before 1am on 27 August.

Speaking about the devastating incident, Ron Duncan, chief of Benton County Fire Protection District 2, told CNN: "There was really nothing we could do."

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The fire was so hot that it burned another trailer that was close by, though firefighters were able to rescue the occupants of the second home.

Neighbours told The Tri-City Herald that they were woken up by the sound of explosions and they then ran outside to see flames reaching 30 feet into the air.

Mr Garcia-Santos said that he and his family had only just moved into the trailer and that it was, in fact, their first night staying there.

The brave father and husband was around 200 miles away in Okanogan County battling the Palmer Fire when the blaze took hold of his home.

Chief Duncan told the media that while Benton County Fire Protection has programs that provide free smoke detectors, Mr Garcia-Santos' trailer was either not equipped with ones that were working or they had not been fitted at all.

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He said: "Either because no smoke alarm was present or an alarm was present but did not operate, as it was in homes with working smoke alarms.

"It's a very sad case and it reiterates the fact that smoke detectors save lives."

Following news of the deaths, a GoFundMe was set up to help fund the funerals.

So far, more than 600 people have donated, with over $32,000 having been raised.

The post on the fund reads: "A family of 4 passed in a house fire they have no family here in the state of Washington just close friends I'd appreciate any help that we could get."

Topics: US News

Dominic Smithers

Dominic graduated from the University of Leeds with a degree in French and History. Like you, Dom has often questioned how much use a second language has been. Well, after stints working at the Manchester Evening News, the Accrington Observer and the Macclesfield Express, along with never setting foot in France, he realised the answer is surprisingly little. But I guess, c'est la vie. Contact us at [email protected]

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