Three Children, a 3-year-old and 2-month old twins, were left alone by their 28-year-old mother, Christina Page, while she ran to the store, leaving food on her stove which caught fire and threatened the children's lives.
According to police, the owner of the building, Anne W. Kuria, lives on the second floor and noticed smoke just after 4 p.m. She called 911, went into the first-floor apartment to investigate and found heavy smoke from food burning on the stove. The wall behind the stove was also on fire.
Ms. Kuria used a wet towel to try to extinguish the fire, but the towel caught fire and she fled. When police arrived, she told them she believed there were children inside the apartment. Police described her as frantic.
According to Assistant Fire Chief, Robert Gryncewicz, he feared the worst when he discovered two unresponsive infants lying on a bed in the apartment and says, "It was a scary thought seeing them both lying there, you start thinking the worst right away."
The children were taken to the Hubbard Regional Hospital and transferred to UMass Memorial Medical Center, where they were treated for smoke inhalation and then will be turned over to the custody of the Department of Social Services.
According to police, Christina Page left the children alone for approximately one hour.
Police waited for the mother to return home and arrested and charged her with three counts each of wantonly permitting substantial bodily injury to a child and wanton reckless behavior causing risk to a child.
If convicted of permitting substantial bodily injury to a child, she could face 5 years in prison.
According to the Webster Massachusetts Police Department press release, the officials that risked their lives to save those three children were, Officers Tobby Wheeler, Patrick Perry, Donald Southall, Assistant Fire Chief Robert Gryncewicz, and Sgt. Michaela Kelley.
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