An early morning fire claimed the lives of a mother and her four kids in Ferguson, Missouri.
Fire erupted at the family home at 510 N. Clay Avenue at around 4:30 a.m., neighbors said.
38-year-old Bernadine “Birdie” Pruessner, her 9-year-old twin daughters, Ellie and Ivy, 5-year-old son Jackson, and 2-year-old daughter Millie all perished in the blaze.
Pruessner was a professor at Lewis and Clark College. She loved animals and had three dogs that also died in the fire.
“Her smile would light up the room. She was just one of those people that if you were in a bad mood and you talked to her, she would make you feel a lot better,” relative Tyler Justice said.
“They [the children] were some of the smartest, brightest kids you could have and full of life just like she was,”
“This was a wonderful group of people that the world is sadly lesser for not having.”
