HARTSVILLE, S.C., April 26 (UPI) -- A South Carolina woman whose four children were killed in a fire has been charged with leaving them alone in her mobile home.
Hope Hawkins, 21, of Hartsville was jailed pending a bail hearing Friday, WPDE-TV, Florence, S.C., reported Thursday.
Her four children -- 10-month old twins Myasia and Kynasia Hawkins, and two boys, Delonta Dixon, 4, and Camaron Mason, 2 -- died of smoke inhalation Wednesday in a fire that gutted their home, a coroner said.
A city spokesman, Russell Cox, said firefighters arrived within 4 minutes and had the fire out in 10, but that was too late to save the children.
The arrest warrant referred only to one of the boys, saying that Hawkins "did place in reasonable risk of harm and did willfully abandon/leave an unattended male child at her home on 811 Depot Street in Hartsville at which time a fire did occur. Hope had custody of the minor male child and is the child's parent."
It was unclear why the names of the other three children were omitted from the document.
Hartsville Mayor Mel Pennington, who was on the scene as a firefighter, said a memorial vigil will be held Friday evening for the children.
