An Ohio community is grieving the loss of three children killed in a house fire last week.
Yesenia, 12, Siclali, and Alex Flores-Ortiz, 7, died when their Franklin St. home in Hamilton caught fire on Friday. Both parents and two other children survived.
The children's father, Ismael Flores, suffered severe burns when he tried to save the children. He was hospitalized in critical condition, and remains in the University of Cincinnati Medical Center.
His brother, Raphael, said he is improving.
"He's going to be OK," Raphael told the Associated Press. "He's got bad burns around his neck, but we think he's going to be OK."
Flores' wife, Crystal, was treated and released along with the other children. Their Freedom Chapel church family is rallying around them.
"They stole our hearts," Pastor Walt Philpot told the Journal-News. "We have loved those children, immensely we have loved those children."
Pastor Philpot had especially fond memories of the youngest child who perished in the fire.
"Alex, nobody would understand him, they were just rowdy children," the pastor explained. "But over the last six or seven months they have changed. But Alex changed the most, he went from being everything to the proper gentleman."
Only the children came to church, but Freedom Chapel members said the services had an immense effect on them.
"I tell you what, the two that passed on, the girl and boy, we seen such great changes in their lives," one woman insisted. "We know, we don't have to prove God, all we have to do is see these little children and how they changed in their lives. All they wanted to do was the right thing."
Flores' family members from Mexico have traveled to Ohio to support the family, and the 50-member church intends to raise $5,000 to help with funeral expenses. Investigators have not yet determined the cause of the fire.
