OCALA, Fla., Nov. 22 (UPI) -- A young mother and her four children were killed in a fire that swept through their Florida trailer home during the weekend, officials said.
Lt. Bernie Kleinschmidt of the Florida Fire Marshal's Office said the Saturday fire in Ocala killed a 25-year-old woman and children ranging in age from 6 years to 2 months, the Ocala Star-Banner reported.
Fire officials said the call came in at 6:44 a.m. Saturday and that the blaze was extinguished at the 39-year-old trailer home 36 minutes later. Although their identities were not officially confirmed, the newspaper said the dead included Tabetha Belanger, 25, and her children Hunter Belanger, 6, Nicholas Belanger, 4, Michael Belanger-Chase, 2, and Aron Chase Jr., 2 months.
"This is the highest number of fatalities in one single structure in two decades," Miranda Iglesias, spokeswoman for Marion County, Fla., Fire Rescue, told the newspaper.
Tabetha Belanger's mother told the Star-Banner her daughter had left an abusive marriage in Wisconsin and came to Florida live with her and to get "a fresh start."
