Missouri Dispatcher Describes 5 Fire Deaths As ‘Heart-Wrenching'

A dispatcher has described firefighters’ desperate efforts to save five children who died in a southern Missouri mobile house fire as “heart-wrenching.”

The Kansas City Star reports that Lori Embry says one firefighter’s voice was breaking with emotion Wednesday morning as he described over the radio being unable to open a window to the home in the town of Lebanon.

The Laclede County Sheriff’s Office dispatcher says the firefighter, who was the first on the scene, could see a mother and a baby. The woman was flown to a hospital, but crews couldn’t reach the baby or other children in time.

Family friend Kim Henry friend says the rescued woman is the mother of two of the children who died. The other three were nephews. Their names haven’t been released.