3. Children killed in fire

Three children died as a result of the early morning fire on Aug. 7 at the Cozy Mobile Home Park, 1575 E. Monroe Ave., spot 14.
Siblings Jesse Jaden-Alan “J.J.” Black, 3; Kathryn Analiese “Kathy” Mullins, 2; and Ezra Paul Black, 1, all perished as a result of the fire. Fremont County Coroner Ed McAuslan said the children died of smoke inhalation before they were reached by the flames.
Rescue workers were able to remove Ezra from the home, but the child was pronounced dead at Riverton Memorial Hospital soon after. They were children of Rachel Mullins, 23, who reported the incident at 6:12 a.m. Though she was in the trailer at the time of the fire, she escaped with minor injuries.
Bridget Brown, 29, also known as Bridget Mullins, also was in the trailer, with her four children. Brown was airlifted to the burn center at the University of Colorado Hospital in Denver and is still in recovery, though she has been released from the hospital according to a note from her mother, Donna Dinges. Hospital officials said they are unable to release information about patients who have left the facility.
Her daughters, Sativa Mullins, 4, and Sierra Mullins, 6, were airlifted to The Children’s Hospital in Denver to be treated for burns. Brown’s son, 3-year-old David Mullins, was treated for minor injuries and released from RMH. Her other son, Mathais Mullins, 1, was not harmed.
The fire was determined accidental, though authorities still have not discovered its direct cause. The Riverton Volunteer Fire Department concluded its investigation in late December, though other agencies involved will continue their inquiries into the new year, officials said.
Investigations showed that the fire began in the front of the two-bedroom, 18- by 60-foot trailer, near the living room and kitchen. It then moved quickly toward the two back bedrooms, where Rachel Mullins’s children were trapped.
“Upon arrival, we had half of the trailer house involved in fire with partial roof collapse,” Riverton Volunteer Fire Department assistant fire chief Matt Lee said. “Our first objective was obviously rescue.”
Officers and firefighters broke through the back wall of the bedroom and retrieved Ezra Black, who later was pronounced dead. Lee said the fire was too intense to allow rescue of the other two children, who were in a crib.
Fire marshal Ralph Estell said the tragedy could have been prevented through the use of smoke detectors in the home. The fire was extinguished in about an hour, Lee said.
Days after the incident, friends and neighbors started a memorial at the scene. Stuffed animals, pictures and notes of support appeared near the burned trailer, and items from the wreckage were collected as well — shoes, bottles, books and pictures. Lee said he hadn’t seen a community respond to a fire so overwhelmingly before, nor has he seen a fire so disastrous.