Teen Saves Sister's Life in Horrific Tennessee Fire

Parents, 3 siblings died in blaze
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Apr 8, 2017 5:30 AM CDT
Teen Saves Sister's Life in Horrific Tennessee Fire
This photo provided by Cassie Walsh of WMFU Radio shows the remains of a house that caught fire killing five family members in the early morning hours Friday, April 7, 2017, in Buchanan, Tenn.   (Cassie Walsh/WMUF Radio via AP)

A young teenager saved her little sister's life in an overnight house fire that killed their parents and three siblings, a Tennessee sheriff said Friday. The fire was reported before midnight Thursday in Buchanan, along the Kentucky state line about 100 miles northwest of Nashville. At a news conference, Henry County Sheriff Monte Belew identified the girls as 13-year-old Lilly Pollack and 8-year-old Rose Pollack. Lilly woke up coughing in her bed in a smoky room and was able to get outside, said her family pastor. Lily then heard someone calling from inside the home, so she stepped in, got Rose out and they ran to their grandmother's house next door and called 911, the sheriff said. "We are calling both of those individuals heroes," Belew said.

Lilly tried to rescue the rest of her family, but couldn't get back inside again because of the intense flames. In what Paris Landing Volunteer Fire Department Chief Reggie Coles calls the "worst tragedy I've ever seen in my 40 years in the fire service," parents Jimmy Pollack and Carrie Pollack, and their children, 14-year-old Jimmy Dale Pollack Jr.; 3-year-old Callie Pollack; and 4-year-old Ivy Pollack died in the fire. Officials, who couldn't find any smoke detectors in the charred home, don't view the fire as suspicious, the AP reports. They are still investigating the cause, which could be faulty wiring or a wood stove. (More Tennessee stories.)

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