Mother dies; fire guts second trailer

Published 12:00 am Sunday, January 12, 2003

A tragic fire that claimed the lives of two children claimed a third victim Friday &045; their mother.

At 5:15 p.m.

Friday, less than 24 hours before two of her children were buried, 24-year-old Shawnia Williams died at the University of Alabama in Birmingham.

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Williams saved her daughters, Sha’Keria and Passion Williams, from a blaze that destroyed their trailer home early Monday morning. She suffered burns to more than 60 percent of her body when she went back in to save Shannon, 8, and Llmaron, 5, but failed to do so. They were buried Saturday.

Funeral arrangements for Shawnia Williams are incomplete at this time, said a spokesperson from Miller’s Funeral Service.

Also on Friday, firefighters responded to a fire that destroyed a trailer park home off Highway 14 East.

Thomas Houston, 65, had lit his wood-burning stove and left to run an errand across the river. As he drove home, he ended up behind the firefighters responding to the call.

He had no idea where they were going at first, then was shocked to realize they were going to his house.

Houston noted that it was painfully ironic that it was his wood-burning stove that caused the blaze.

Houston had no idea what all he lost in the home, but, he pointed out, he did have a freezer full of meat.