PITTSBORO, Miss. (WTVA)--Thursday was an emotional day for Calhoun County Sheriff Greg Pollan and firefighters.
"The family is distraught and the fire personnel were fighting emotions and everyone here was," said Pollan.
Ten-year-old Malik Glaspie and his neice, Madyson Smalley, 3, were killed in a house fire.
Their bodies were found near each other in a back bedroom.
"They were fun kids. They climbed trees and different things. They were fun children," explained neighbor Shirley Moore.
The home is a total loss and the fire spread quickly.
"The structure started out as a house trailer. The trailer sat in the middle and they built around the trailer. They then bricked it up. So, it was a trailer inside of a brick home," said Pollan.
David Glaspie is related to the family and lives next door.
"I threw on my jogging pants and ran outside. I mean it [fire] was going. All the people were around. I didn't hear anything," stated Glaspie.
The sheriff says the homeowner, Theresa Watkins, was on her way home from work.
Watkins arrived on the scene as firefighters battled the blaze.
"By the time I got here it was just smoke everywhere. I could here them [children] screaming. It sounded like the little girl screaming," said Moore.
There were seven children inside the home.
"The oldest who was 17. He got four of the children out. He went back in to get the others but he wasn't able to," explained Pollan.
"He told me he tried his best but he just couldn't. He said the blaze was too bad," added Glaspie.
"All the windows had security bars which impeded them from escaping the fire. The fire marshal was on the scene and says the fire probably started near an air conditioning unit," Pollan added.
The fire remains under investigation.
