MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A fire in South Memphis has left one family devastated, as one child is dead and another is fighting for their life at Regional One Health.
“I tried … and I couldn’t do it,” said Prestine Adair, who lost her home in the fire.
The memory of Thursday night has been playing in Adair’s head over and over again. She was woken up by screams from her grandchild staying with her.
“Grandmama, Grandma, help me!” recalled Adair.
The grandmother was able to shake the door open, and rescue four of her grandchildren. Unfortunately, five-year-old Destiny died in the fire, and her seven-year-old sister Terraniah is fighting for her life.
“And she was still calling me, through the fire,” Adair said. “She hollered, and hollered, and hollered … and hollered.”
The Memphis Fire Department says electrical issues is what led to the fire on Mallory Avenue. This was a problem former tenants had told ABC24 about on Friday. Adair had told Pamela Lee at Excel Children & Youth Services about this for months, including how only two outlets in her home worked.
“She really started to explain how in depth it was,” Lee said. “… The other outlets in the house wasn’t working.”
Lee is one of the many trying to help Adair and her family recover. However, many are worried about the multiple GoFundMe fundraisers already set up outside of Adair’s family.
“People are sending help that this family are not receiving,” Lee said.
Instead, Lee asks people to send those donations to Longview Heights Seventh Day Adventist Church at 685 E Mallory Avenue or Excel Children & Youth Services at 1043 S Cooper Street, and put it in care of Adair.
“We’ll make sure that she gets it,” Lee said. “They need help, not just prayers, but they need help, and they need everything.”
The City of Memphis tells us there were multiple complaints from different tenants at the Mallory Avenue home in 2022.
The family said they are planning to open a GoFundMe eventually, but have yet to do so.