FLORA — A distraught man drove through his garage door to summon help as a fire raced through his rural home, killing his wife and two young children, authorities said Saturday.
The fire outside Flora killed Leah Wagoner, 40, and the couple’s children, 4-year-old Sophia and 7-year-old Harrison, the Carroll County Sheriff’s Department said.
The father, Brian Wagoner, awoke to his home filling with smoke shortly before midnight Friday. After finding the front door blocked, he ran to the garage, where the garage door opener wouldn’t work, so he drove through the lowered door. He went to a neighbor’s house to call for help, deputies said.
Cody Harter, who lives next door, said he heard a loud crack and found Brian Wagoner at his door a few minutes later.
“I came out the back door and looked over, and the whole backside was completely engulfed in flames,” Harter said.
Flora police Officer Josh Disinger, the first emergency responder on the scene, broke out a bedroom window to remove Sophia and passed her to medics, but they were unable to save her life.
Leah Wagoner was found on the kitchen floor and Harrison was found in his bed.
Investigators preliminarily determined the cause of the fire was electrical, said John Erickson, a spokesman for the state fire marshal.
Flora Fire Chief Scott Sisson said a similar fire in nearby Bringhurst also killed a woman and two of her children.
It was the second deadly fire in Flora within six weeks, after a fatal mobile home fire on April 9.
Flora is about 60 miles north of Indianapolis.
