Fire at Harrison County home kills 2 brothers, severely injures father<\/p>\n
Published 8:42 pm Tuesday, December 30, 2025<\/p>\n
Editor\u2019s note: The last name of the two children killed in the fire has been corrected.<\/p>\n
The cause of a fire at a Waskom home that claimed the lives of two young brothers and severely injured their father has not yet been determined, authorities said Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The two siblings, Isaac, 8, and Hector Pedraza, 11, were pronounced dead by Harrison County Pct. 1 Justice of the Peace John Oswalt.<\/p>\n
Oswalt said emergency units were alerted about 10:20 a.m. of a structure fire on Noble Street with occupants trapped inside.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was \u2026 an extremely hot fire,\u201d said Oswalt, describing how the high-pitched roof held the heat inside the metal trailer structure.<\/p>\n
Oswalt said when officials arrived, family members were at the scene attempting to gain access to the home, but conditions were too dangerous.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were trying to keep the family back,\u201d he said, noting first responders also were trying to gain entry into the structure.<\/p>\n
Oswalt said the siblings\u2019 father was able to escape but sustained severe burns. He was airlifted to a medical center for treatment. Oswalt said people at the scene said the boys\u2019 mother wasn\u2019t home at the time of the fire.<\/p>\n
\u201cLots of people were out there for sure,\u201d he said of the support the family has received. \u201cYes, it\u2019s definitely a tragic day for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
The two siblings were elementary and middle school students at Waskom ISD. In a statement on the district\u2019s Facebook page, Waskom ISD Superintendent Chris Guastella expressed the district\u2019s sadness.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur entire school community is grieving this tremendous loss, and our hearts are with their families, friends, and all who knew and loved them,\u201d Guastella wrote.<\/p>\n
He said school counselors will be on hand to help students and staff members.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe recognize that this news is deeply upsetting,\u201d Guastella wrote. \u201cGrief affects everyone differently, and both students and adults may experience a wide range of emotions.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease know that you are not alone, and support is available. We encourage families to talk with their children and reach out to the school if additional support is needed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Guastella extended his condolences to the students\u2019 family and asked all to keep them in their thoughts.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn times like these, it is important that we come together with care, compassion, and respect for the privacy of the families involved,\u201d he wrote. \u201cWe ask that you keep them in your thoughts as they navigate this unimaginable loss.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fire at Harrison County home kills 2 brothers, severely injures father Published 8:42 pm Tuesday, December 30, 2025…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":379788,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4,450,451,3,452,453],"class_list":{"0":"post-379787","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-breaking-news","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-top-stories","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379787\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/379788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}