4 Kids Dead After St. Paul Fire; Mom And 2 Other Kids Recovering

ST. PAUL, MN — Four kids have died since a fire broke out at a St. Paul home last week, and the mother and two of her other children are still recovering.

All six were hospitalized after the early morning blaze Jan. 3. The father was at work when the fire ignited at their house in the Payne-Phalen neighborhood.

One-year-old Mauj CagTxuj Vaj died at Regions Hospital on Monday, Deputy Fire Chief Roy Mokosso told the Star Tribune.

Last week, the 5-year-old twin daughters — Ntshiab Si and Siv Ntshiab — and 4-year-old son Mauj Tshau Ntuj died of their their injuries.

"I just have the best time playing with my kids at our ally and celebrating a fresh New Year with my family together," father Pacheng Vang wrote on a GoFundMe page he started. "I can't believe it would be the last time I spent with my kids."

Two kids have been moved "out of the critical zone," Vang, said. He is planning funerals for the children who didn't survive.

"With the death of my children, I would like to ask for a helping hand as it is expensive to hold a funeral," he wrote. "I'm hoping our family, friends, and community can donate to help me out. Even just enough to hold a small cheap funeral, a decent standard coffin, and a place for the children to rest."

More than $425,000 was raised as of Tuesday morning for Vang's family.

Firefighters responded in under four minutes to the home on the 1200 block of Arkwright Street North at about 1:30 a.m. on Wednesday. They entered the burning house and found seven unconscious people on the main level, according to officials.

Crews pulled their bodies from the home, and paramedics performed CPR on all of them before they were hospitalized.

St. Paul Fire Chief Butch Inks thanked the responders during a news conference on Wednesday, stating they're "the reason these individuals have a chance right now," including one firefighter who saved three of the six children.

"You show up on scene in a house where visibility is nil. You can't see anything," Inks detailed. "This individual went in, quickly found one child, pulled the child out, went back in, found another child, pulled that child out, and then went back in a third time. And found another child. And pulled that child out. And began doing medical CPR on that child."

Inks added that it was "A very traumatic event for our folks," stating that "we're human beings and it's very difficult to do a lot of times, to maintain composure and to maintain the reason we're there."

The fire was extinguished after about 30 minutes.