FORT SMITH, Ark. (KFSM) — No smoke detectors were found inside the Fort Smith home that caught fire early Tuesday (Nov. 19) according to investigators.
Teddy Abbey, Fort Smith Fire Marshal, said he and his team began investigating the home to find the cause of the fire after 3 a.m. Tuesday (Nov. 19).
Five family members were inside the home and each had to be carried out by firefighters and a 3-year-old little girl died after the fire. Her mother and three siblings are in critical condition.
Abbey said all signs point towards the gas heater in the living room as the origin of the fire, but the investigation is still ongoing. Abbey said no smoke detectors were found in the house.
"We did not identify a smoke detector in that home at all," Abbey said. "People think that they can smell smoke and wake up. All of those pollutants from that smoke and all those gases are getting in their lungs. They are putting you in a deeper sleet to the point where you won't wake up."
Carol Lewis lives across the street from the family said she has been visiting the mother in the hospital.
"They don't know what is going happen at this point," Lewis said. "The children are still critical and the mom she is at Mercy and is still critical."
Lewis said it's difficult to see the home destroyed across the street.