The bedrooms where four Conyers children died in a fire late Tuesday night had no smoke detectors, investigators said.
The 1983 duplex’s lone smoke detector, located on the ground floor, had no battery, according to Rockdale County Fire and Rescue officials.
What caused the blaze remains a mystery.
Reba Glass, the mother of the three boys and one girl — ages 7 months to 9 years — who died in the fire, remains hospitalized at Grady Memorial with burns over 40 percent of her body.
A relative told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that funeral arrangements are on hold until Glass, who has burns on her back, forehead and most of her extremities, is released.
“Maybe next Saturday,” said Glass’ sister-in-law, Santana Baker. “They want to make sure Reba is out of the hospital first.”
Glass was reunited Thursday with her only remaining child. The boy’s grandmother, Rosetta Mitchell, also survived the blaze.
Baker said family members have told Darnell, who was released from Children’s Healthcare at Egleston late Wednesday, his siblings are gone.
“He’s really not understanding what happened,” she said.
Friends and neighbors are likewise struggling to make sense of the horrific tragedy.
Shameki Swift, who’s known Glass since middle school, brought a stuffed bear to add to a makeshift memorial erected Thursday morning outside the burned-out home.
“There’s nothing you can say and nothing you can do to make it feel better, but bringing [the bear] was just reaching out to let her know we’re here and we support her,” Swift said.
Neighbor Essie Mae Colquitt said she watched as firefighters brought the children’s lifeless bodies out of the duplex.
“That was the saddest thing that ever was,” said Colquitt, 86. “That hurt. I haven’t gotten over it yet.”
A community prayer service is scheduled for Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at Macedonia Baptist Church in Conyers. On Saturday, Kidz Dine N is asking the public to donate clothes and money to the family between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. at the Harley-Davidson at 900 Dogwood Drive in Conyers.
Checks should be made to the Glass Family Memorial Fund at Wells Fargo Bank.
The memorial service, tentatively scheduled for Jan. 19 at 11 a.m., will also be held at Macedonia Baptist.
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