Two Children Killed in Orange Tx. House Fire

Additional information: Two young Orange girls lost their lives during a house fire shortly after midnight Monday at 1241 Palm Street. When firefighters arrived, the small frame house was engulfed in flames. Smoke was said to be seen from quite a distance from the scene. The blaze quickly shot through the roof as the fire spread.

The mother, Tamisha Hudson, 27, was outside the residence yelling her children were still inside when firefighters arrived. Initial actions concentrated on search and rescue of the trapped children. Firefighters were hindered in their rescue attempts by burglar bars on the windows and doors.

Orange Police Department Officer Eric Ellison was near the southeast corner of the residence when a firefighter emerged from the burning house with three-year-old TyTuenna Amerson. Ellison was handed the unresponsive child and quickly ran towards a waiting ambulance. She was rushed to Christus St. Elizabeth Hospital in Beaumont where she was pronounced dead at 1:28 a.m.

Moments later another firefighter emerged with Harmoni Amerson, 4, who was unresponsive as well. Her lifeless body was put into a waiting ambulance and promptly transferred to Baptist Hospital -Orange. She was pronounced dead at 1:27 a.m.

Autopsies have been ordered for both girls, according to reports from the Orange Police Department.

Hudson was transported by private vehicle to Baptist Hospital-Orange and later taken to UTMB hospital burn unit in Galveston for inhalation burns. According to family members she is “not doing well mentally or physically.”

A firefighter hurt his back when he pulled a burning mattress out of the home. He was treated and released at Baptist Hospital Orange. According to Lee Ann Brown, fire marshal with the Orange Fire Department, the cause of the fire is accidental and to have started in the kitchen which was adjacent to the girl’s bedroom.
By Erik Onstott in The Orange Leader
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A house fire killed 3 and 4-year-old sisters in Orange, despite the efforts of two firefighters who pulled them out of the burning home while their mother was outside screaming for help, according to information KFDM News has received from Deputy Chief Jerry Ziller of the Orange Fire Department. www.kdfm.com

Ziller told KFDM News the fire’s area of origin was the kitchen, and the fire was accidental, but investigators haven’t made a final ruling on the cause.

Relatives have identified the victims as TyTuenna Amerson, 3, and her sister, Harmoni Amerson, 4. Their mother is Tamisha Hudson, 27.

Ziller told KFDM News the fire was reported at about 12:30 a.m. Monday at 1241 Palm Drive in Orange. The mother was alerted to the fire and got out. A neighbor heard screaming and went outside to find his neighbor’s home burning and the woman outside screaming for help.

Firefighters saw smoke from about a quarter mile away and they saw a glow in the sky as they approached the home from one eighth of a mile away. When they arrived at the home, flames were coming out of the roof and windows.

“The mother or a neighbor told the arriving crew that children were in a back corner bedroom,” said Ziller. “Our firefighters went around the back to try to rescue the children and found an unlocked burglar bar on a sliding glass door. Captain John Bilbo and a new, probationary firefighter, Jeremy Birch, pulled the two girls out. Other firefighters assisted.”

Acadian Ambulance transported one child to Baptist Hospital Orange and the other girl to Christus Hospital St. Elizabeth in Beaumont. Ziller says the mother was taken by private vehicle to Baptist Hospital Orange and transferred to a burn unit in Galveston. A firefighter hurt his back when he pulled a burning mattress out of the home. He was treated and released at Baptist Hospital Orange.

Ziller says the home might have had smoke detectors. He isn’t sure because of the extent of damage.

“If you have burglar bars on your house, you need to have a working smoke detector in every room, not just in the middle of the structure, to give you the earliest possible notice of a fire because you need the extra time.”

Ziller says a chaplain helped comfort shaken firefighters at the scene and relatives of the children at the hospital.

Ziller says an adult died in a fire a year or two ago in Orange.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve had two people killed in a fire,” said Ziller. “I can’t remember the last time we’ve had two kids die. That’s tough. That’s just tough.”

A fire early Saturday, December 5, killed a woman and her daughter in their Port Arthur home. Mollie Van Wright, who was in her 80’s, and her daughter, Florence Van Wright, 53, died in the fire at 811 10th Street.