A 5-year-old boy has died after he was pulled from a burning home late Thursday night, according to the Mobile Fire-Rescue Department.
Firefighters were called to the fire at a home in the 1500 block of Sharon Drive at about 11:47 p.m., officials said.
According to the fire department, two children were home alone at the time the fire broke out. A 12-year-old boy was awakened by a smoke alarm and the smell of smoke and managed to escape the home safely. The MFRD said the older boy told firefighters that his 5-year-old brother was still trapped inside, but that he was unable to reach him because the fire was spreading too quickly and intensely.
Firefighters entered the home and pulled the younger boy from the blaze. He was rushed to a local hospital, where medical staff attempted ongoing resuscitation efforts. Despite those efforts, the child was pronounced deceased at the hospital, officials said.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation, according to the Mobile Fire-Rescue Department. No further details about the circumstances that left the two children home alone have been released.
The tragedy has shaken the Sharon Drive neighborhood, and fire officials are continuing to investigate exactly how the blaze started and spread so rapidly through the home.