A 13-YEAR-OLD girl has been killed in a devastating house fire with seven others managing to escape.
Cops and emergency services rushed to a property in Kingsway in Prescot, Merseyside, after reports of a fire late on Wednesday night.
A man, woman and five children were thankfully able to escape from the property unharmed.
Sadly the 13-year-old girl was pronounced dead at the scene.
Firefighters received a 999 call at about 11.40pm on Wednesday and found the rear bedroom of a mid-terraced house was alight.
A shocked neighbour at the scene told the Echo: “We woke up at about 11.43pm to shouts and screams. I saw huge flames coming from the house at the back.
“Because of the dogs I couldn’t walk out. It’s so sad.
“The whole situation is just crazy. It’s normally quite quiet down here and we have lots of children on the street. It’s just terrible.”
Another resident described the harrowing scenes as “whirlwind of a night”.
[bc_video account_id=”5067014667001″ application_id=”” aspect_ratio=”16:9″ autoplay=”” caption=”Heathrow bosses were ‘warned of potential failures DAYS before major outage closed airport & sparked travel chaos’” embed=”in-page” experience_id=”” height=”100%” language_detection=”” max_height=”360px” max_width=”640px” min_width=”0px” mute=”” padding_top=”56%” picture_in_picture=”” player_id=”default” playlist_id=”” playsinline=”” sizing=”responsive” video_id=”6370919918112″ video_ids=”” width=”640px”]Four firefighters wearing breathing apparatus put the fire out in the early hours of Thursday morning and then searched for people inside.
The house was then checked for further hotspots as fire crews monitored temperatures to the first floor, roof space, and externally.
Neighbouring properties were also searched for fire and smoke.
The schoolgirl’s family are said to be aware of her death and are being supported by specially trained officers.
Merseyside Police remained on scene to manage the cordon, and firefighters left the scene at 2.20am.
A joint investigation involving Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service’s Incident Investigation Team and Merseyside Police into the cause of the fire is ongoing.
House-to-house and CCTV enquiries have been carried out in the local area.
Detective Inspector Steven O’Neill said: “Our thoughts are with the family of the young girl at this very sad time.
“A joint investigation into the cause of the fire is ongoing and the girl’s family is being supported by specially trained officers.”
Firefighters and MFRS prevention staff will visit the local area to provide vital fire safety advice and complete home fire safety checks as part of a reassurance campaign in the coming days.
