After going missing following one of the deadly wildfires spreading across California this week, a 70-year-old woman and her two great-grandchildren were found dead, according to family members.
Before they were able to evacuate their home on Thursday, Melody Bledsoe and her two great-grandchildren — Emily Roberts, 4, and James Roberts, 5 — became victims of the Carr fire, Melody’s great-granddaughter Shelly Hoskison told KNTV.
Once Bledsoe realized the danger her family was in, she called her husband Ed.
“She said, ‘You need to come home right now. The fire’s right next to our house,’” Ed told Capital Public Radio.
At that time, she was without a car and had no way of safely fleeing the area. Hoskison told KNTV that her grandmother did call the police, but the line went dead in the middle of the call.
As of Sunday, six lives have been lost as a result of the deadly blaze, KCRA reported.
Sherri Bledsoe and Carla Bledsoe
While the family began looking for Bledsoe and the two children after they were stranded, they later found out from the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office that they had been found dead, according to KCII.
“My babies are dead,” Sherri Bledsoe, the mother of the two young children, told the outlet after learning the sad news.
KNTV reported that the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office is currently investigating the incident, adding that at the time a nearby firefighter had been forced to evacuate the area after his vehicle almost caught on fire.
The Shasta County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
RELATED: Arson Suspect Arrested as Deadly California Wildfires Rage on and Force Evacuations
Ed’s family has also set up a GoFundMe page in order to help provide him with financial assistance, saying he “lost everything” in the fire and does not have any insurance.
As of Sunday, at least 12 people are missing in Shasta County, according to CNN.
“We’re finding that there are a lot of communication issues,” Redding Police Sgt. Todd Cogle told the outlet, adding that “we spoke with several people who left their cell phones at their residences and in this day and age people don’t remember people’s phone numbers.”
According to the California Department of Forestry and fire Protection, the fire is currently only five percent contained.
On Thursday, California Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency in Shasta County. President Donald Trump declared a state of emergency for California on Saturday, authorizing federal aid for counties affected by the wildfires.
from PEOPLE.com https://ift.tt/2AldMIY
No comments:
Post a Comment