Families mourning after two boys killed in Overton County fire

OVERTON COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) – Two families are grieving after a house fire in Overton County led to the deaths of a 3-year-old and a 7-year-old Saturday.

Livingston Fire Chief Rocky Dial said crews responded to reports of a residential structure fire in the 200 block of Railroad Street shortly before 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 15.

Dial told News 2 there were 10 people inside the house at the time of the fire, including two children who died after being taken to the hospital.

The Overton County community has rallied together to help the families who each lost a child so they can focus on mourning and burying their loved ones.

Meanwhile, a mother who tried to run into the burning house to help spoke to News 2. Elizabeth Colvin said she was babysitting at her former foster mother’s home while she ran errands.

“I stepped outside for less than two minutes to make a phone call, and as I went to go inside, I started hearing her two children screaming that there was a fire,” Colvin recalled.

Colvin said she was blinded by the smoke and flames as she tried to get all of the children to safety.

“I was running up the stairs, where I found my two little boys. I did not see Tobias,” Colvin told News 2, adding that she proceeded to take her children down the stairs.

However, when she did a headcount outside, Colvin said she noticed two little boys were missing. Her 3-year-old, Wyatt, and her foster mom’s 7-year-old, Toby, were still inside.

“The house was pretty much becoming engulfed… When I took the two steps into the kitchen, something felt like it blew up, and it blew me backwards. I mean, you couldn’t see anything,” Colvin described.

Colvin remembered collapsing due to the smoke and burns before someone came in and tried to help: “I just remember begging them to leave me because I didn’t want to leave the babies in there.”

Dial said his crews spent more than two hours putting battling the blaze, which sent Colvin and a firefighter to the hospital with injuries.

“I was in the ICU because I inhaled all the smoke… I’m still pretty hoarse, and I’m extremely sore,” Colvin said.

However, Wyatt and Toby did not survive.