A woman is dead and four minor children are hospitalized for smoke inhalation and other injuries after a late night fire in Rosedale. Kern County Fire Captain Andrew Freeborn tells KGET TV several units responded to the call on Cave Avenue off Samantha Street at 11:45 Thursday night, which is just north of the Walmart shopping center. Neighbors say 38-year-old Kristina Stratton had lost her husband to cancer and was doing a “great job” of raising the kids on her own. Reports since then say she was not home when the fire broke out and she’d rushed in to find her kids, who survived by jumping out the windows. County Fire arson is investigating the incident.

Suzanne Grant