GAITHERSBURG, Md. (WUSA9) -- Firefighters who desperately tried to save the victims of Monday's plane crash quickly realized there was no way they could get to a mother and her two young children.
Rescuers found Marie Gemmell, 36, hudding her two sons, Devin and Cole, on the second floor of their home.
Members of the first engine company to arrive were just back at the scene for the first time Thursday, trying to comprehend the tragedy.
A recording of the radio communications that day reads "Paramedic, Engine 728 at the scene. Got a working fire in the house. Report of three people in the house, going into initial attack mode."
Job one for firefighters is to save lives.
"As soon as we pulled up, there were bystanders saying there's a family in the house," said Master Firefighter Clark Oliver.
Marie Gemmell had grabbed her two children and retreated to the upstairs bathroom. Seconds after the plane hit, the flames were shooting up the stairwell and out of the front and back of the house, cutting off any escape.
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"Fire, possibly three people inside," squawked the radio.
"Captain Mauney kicked in the front door, and it was just a mass of flames," said Oliver.
So Captain Mauney and a paramedic went in through the garage, fighting fire into the first room. There were flames rolling across the ceiling.
"We went in a little bit, probed to see how deeply we could get in there, realized it wasn't a survivable situation. And the conditions upstairs were even worse than downstairs," said Mauney.
"I need you out of there now," Fire Operations Chief Scott Goldstein yelled into the radio. They retreated and fought the blaze from outside for several long minutes.
"It's very frustrating," said Battalion Chief Brent Hopkins. "It's always frustrating when you can't make it a positive outcome. It was terrible that we couldn't do more than what we did."
Captain Mauney did eventually make his way back inside while the fire continued to burn. Crews searched three quarters of the upstairs within 15 minutes and still didn't find the family. It was not until hours later that they found their bodies. They never had a chance.
