Mother, eight children die in house fire

Associated Press

GREENVILLE, Ky.

The bodies of eight children and their mother were found huddled together in or near a master bedroom, victims of an early-morning fire Thursday from which only the father and an 11-year-old daughter escaped after it ripped through a modest home in western Kentucky.

The fire started accidentally with combustible material against an electric heater in a bedroom, said Kentucky State Police Trooper Stu Recke.

The side and roof of the small, white-wood frame house with three bedrooms and an enclosed porch collapsed, leaving a lone chimney standing. Fire investigators pored over the melted and burned remnants of household goods and charred beams that lay scattered on the ground.

Recke identified those killed as 35-year-old LaRae “Nikki” Watson, 15-year-old Madison Watson, 14-year-old Kaitlyn Watson, 13-year-old Morgan Watson, 9-year-old Emily Watson, 8-year-old Samuel Watson, 6-year-old Raegan Watson and 4-year-old twin brothers Mark and Nathaniel Watson.

Recke said the fact that all the victims were near one another could be an indication that they were trying to escape through a window, but investigators aren’t sure.

Autopsies on the remains were started Thursday afternoon.

The father, 36-year-old Chad Watson, and 11-year-old Kylie Watson, were at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn. Hospital spokesman Doug Campbell said both were in critical, but stable condition Thursday afternoon.

The fire broke out in the single-family house just west of Greenville, which is about 130 miles southwest of Louisville in the state’s western coal fields.