A Texas mother who saved her two older children during a house fire tragically died when she ran back into the burning building to save her one-year-old son, but both mother and son were killed.
Giovanna Cabrera, 31, and her son Gabriel were in their home at 218 Heaney Street on Houston’s north side early Saturday morning when the fire broke out.
After rescuing her two older children, ages 6 and 9, Cabrera ran back into the burning building but never got out, fire officials said.
The fire was so intense that the fire brigade had to wait before they could enter. Once inside, they saw Cabrera holding her son Gabriel amid the smoke and flames.
“She had him in her arms like the baby, so I know she tried. I know if she could have done that. She would have made it,” her distraught sister Giselle Bueno told the local chapter ABC13 News, said.
The origin and cause of the fire are still unknown and are being investigated, the fire brigade said.
Pictured: Giovanna Cabrera and her one-year-old son Gabriel Cabrera tragically died in a house fire on Saturday. The hero mom saved her two older children, ages 6 and 9, when she ran into the house to save her baby. She never made it out, fire officials said
The early morning fire broke out Saturday at the family’s home at 218 Heaney Street on Houston’s north side.
Cabrera pictured with her two other children, aged six and nine (left), whom she rescued from the burning building, as she is pictured (right) with her son, who also died
The house was so badly damaged that firefighters were unsure whether the building had one or two floors.
Hours after the tragedy, Houston Fire Chief Samuel Pena posted the catastrophic fire on X, formerly Twitter, with the caption: “Heartbreaking incident.”
Devastated by the tragedy, Giselle Bueno stood outside the house that was covered in black ash after firefighters extinguished the flames.
She cried as she called her sister, Giovanna, an “amazing, courageous mother.”
“I can’t believe I won’t see her and the baby again,” Bueno said.
“She had to save her babies, that’s her first thing. I couldn’t imagine how scared she was.’
As family members, friends and neighbors comforted Bueno, a memorial with a photo of Giovanna and Gabriel sat next to a tree outside the burned building.
Bethel Baptist Church Pastor Jaime Garcia was on scene, accompanied by church members who were there to support the family during this unimaginable loss.
“The church is here, family and friends, and that is for one reason to encourage this family during this very tragic time in their lives that none of us can understand,” Garcia said, according to the news station.
Bueno said she ultimately took comfort in knowing her sister and her son died together.
“I don’t think my sister could have endured the pain of losing a child,” she added.
The cause and origin of the fire are unknown and an investigation is underway
Giselle Bueno (pictured in the maroon sweatshirt), utterly devastated by the tragedy, is seen outside the destroyed home hugging a friend who was there to show her support.
Firefighters from the Houston Fire Department stand outside the burned-out building that was completely destroyed during Saturday’s house fire
The two surviving children are now with their father, ABC13 reports.
a GoFundMe was founded to help pay for their funerals. Any remaining donations will go to Cabrera’s two other children and her parents, who lost everything they owned in the fire.
As of Monday afternoon, more than $22,000 has been raised toward their goal of $35,000.