12-year-old boy escapes Athens fire that killed 3 family members

Donors have rallied around a 12-year-old boy who escaped a deadly fire in an Athens mobile home early Wednesday morning, raising nearly $140,000 in two days.

The boy, identified on a GoFundMe page as Taeden Johnson, tried to go back inside to save three of his family members from the flames. However, none of them survived the fire at the Hallmark Mobile Home park.

Johnson’s mother, 35-year-old Penyada Fields, his grandmother, 52-year-old Penny Fields, and his sister, 9-year-old Mariah Fields, were identified as the victims Friday by the Athens-Clarke County coroner.

Crews were sent to the 700 block of Spring Valley Road after a man called 911 and said the trailer next to his was on fire, according to the Athens-Clarke County Fire Department.

The entire structure was ablaze when fire crews arrived about 3:30 a.m., officials said.

As firefighters began working to bring the flames under control, neighbors told them that one child had escaped the blaze but three other family members were trapped inside.

The neighbors had tried to get the three residents out of the trailer before the fire department arrived. One man broke two windows in the back of the home, according to Channel 2.

“I literally low-crawled through their back door and lit my phone flashlight,” Al-Lynne Mayo told the news station, “trying to tell them, ‘Look, if you can see this light, your back door is open. Come this way.’ I could hear them tapping, trying to get out.”

The pre-teen boy, who suffered burns to his arms and chest, rushed to try to pull his family from the home.

“I had to grab that baby and hold him,” Mayo said, “and tell him, ‘You can’t go back in there.’”

Firefighters eventually managed to extinguish the fire enough to enter the mobile home, where they found the three bodies.

“This is a tragic loss in our community,” fire Chief Jeff Scarbrough said. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to the friends and family of the victims.”

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

After the fire, Johnson’s mentor of five years, Zac Hendrix, created the GoFundMe page to raise money for the boy’s expenses. In the fundraiser’s description, Hendrix said he had visited Johnson on Wednesday afternoon and that the boy was in shock, battling grief. Johnson is now staying with his paternal grandmother in Athens, according to the fundraising page.

“The proceeds will go directly to a fund for his college and future that I have set up for him,” Hendrix said. “Also, the proceeds will go to his grandmother (Brenda Ballard) to buy him some clothes and help his family with their personal needs.”