GREENSBORO, N.C. -- There was a lot of emotion outside at a courtyard meeting not too far away from where a Congolese refugee family lost five children in a fire in May. 

  • 5 children died in an apartment fire in Greensboro in May.
  • The official cause of the fire was unattended cooking.
  • Some believe the stove malfunctioned and caused the fire. 

Say Flomo is a close friend to the family, he says the tragic news effected him.

"The kids were my kids too cause the kids used to come to me all the time,” says Flomo.

The fire department says the cause of fire was unattended cooking.

"Somebody was in the kitchen. There was a pot on the stove. Someone walked away or was doing something else in the home,” says Greensboro Fire Marshall Timothy Henshaw.

But some say they think it was something else. "The stove has been giving them problems. When they turn the burner off it does not go off till two to three hours." He says, "I personally called the landlord two to three times to fix this problem no body came out."

The fire is still under investigation but people in the neighborhood say they need answers.

Adamou Mohamed is a concerned community member. "Could it be that the range was not working properly and turned on while the food was on the stove even though there was no cooking going on,” he asks.

The fire department says they are working to provide answers.

"There is still information that is coming in, there are people bringing new pieces of paper and we want to make sure that we process them, we don't go too quickly and miss anything,” says Henshaw.

The fire department says they will have their final report in two weeks.

 

 

 

 

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