Shock and grief after mother, 4 children die in house fire

The sister of a mother-of-five who ended up perishing along with four of her kids in a rural house fire has paid tribute to her sibling and her family.

Susan James’s older sister Lucinda Seago was killed in Saturday morning’s blaze in Warwick, Massachusetts. 

‘There are no words really, truly,’ James said to . ‘She was a wonderful mother of five, including a younger child who was autistic. She was a devout Catholic and a darn good person.’ 

Seago and perisai99 four of her children died in the fire that reduced their home to rubble early Saturday. Two other family members, Lucinda’s husband Scott and his 10-year-old daughter managed to escape with non-life threatening injuries.

The other children who died were an eight-year-old girl and three sons: a junior in high school, another around age 12, and the youngest around 6. 

Laurence Pruyne told the Globe that the family were prominent members of the community and would often carry out volunteer work.

He said that Lucinda Seago had a self-deprecating sense of humor and that despite working full time, her children were ‘at the center of her life,’ he said.

‘She always had a large cup of coffee with her because I think that helped her keep going a lot of days.’

Ms Seago had a nursing degree and recently transitioned from walking the rounds as a nurse to a desk job at a long-term facility.

Fire officials say the cause of the blaze is likely a wood stove in the kitchen and was accidental in nature.  The five of them had no way of escaping as once the fire had engulfed the home, the roof caved in.

Mr Seago and his daughter were taken to a hospital in Keene, New Hampshire, with non-life-threatening injuries, officials said.

‘They managed to get outside of the house and ran to a neighbor,’ Jennifer Mieth, spokeswoman for the state fire marshal, said Sunday. She emphasized the importance of families having a fire safety plan. ‘Different people will try to get out different ways, and parents need to have a plan.’

‘We know the people were overcome by smoke,’ she said. ‘It happened so rapidly.’ 

Sixteen fire crews helped battle the blaze, but crews were hampered by bitter cold temperatures and the challenges of drawing water to battle fires in the rural town, which has no fire hydrants. 

Upon their arrival to the remote home they found it engulfed in fire with members of the family trapped inside.

Warwick Fire Chief Ron Gates said there was nothing they could have done differently.

Over the weekend people gathered at the Town Hall where Gates held the press conference, and many brought food and comforted each other through the community-wide loss.

Dozens of churchgoers gathered at the Trinitarian Congregational Church in Warwick for an emotional Sunday service. 

The Boston Globe reports how Rev. Dr. Gordon Ellis struggled to find the right words during Sunday’s service.

‘You can’t live in a little town like Warwick without being moved by the shock, the grief, of it all,’ Ellis said.

Stephen Ruggiero, also a resident of Richmond Road said: ‘It’s so upsetting, nothing like this happens like this around here. It’s so completely rural and peaceful.’ 

One resident John Bradford said: ‘It’s horrific,’

‘It’s not something that’s easy to wrap your head around.’