In a bit of heartbreaking news, an 80-year-old couple perished after a Colorado wildfire consumed their home. East Troublesome Fire is the second-largest fire in the state’s history. A rescue team found the couple’s bodies still hugging each other after they refused to evacuate their home.
Lye Hileman, 86, and his wife Marylin, 84, died inside their Grand County home, according to the Denver Channel. The couple decided to take shelter inside the home’s basement instead of evacuating. Due to the fire, others in the area left their homes for safety.
One of the couples’ grandchildren remembered them on Twitter as kind and loving. They wrote, “I loving memory, Lyle and Marylin Hileman. Your family loves you and misses you, and will go forward with the love, dedication, kindness, and strength you taught to us.”
According to relatives, several friends and officials drove through safety barricades to reach the couple. They offered to help them to safety, but the couple refused to leave their home.
“All offers to leave were refused. At 86 and 84 years of age, their only desire was to be together in the home they loved,” the family told the Denver Channel.
The Wildfire Consumed The Couple’s Home
According to the statement, the couple called their son Glenn on Wednesday night (Oct. 21). The couple said, “It happened.” The fire started to spread in the fields and barns near the house.
‘They were calm, resolute and adamant – they would not leave,” the family said in the statement. “They asked Glenn to call his siblings and let them know that they were in their basement in an area they felt safe.”
Later that night, Glenn tried to call his parents but no one answered. On Oct. 22, firefighters confirmed the house had been consumed by the fire. A search and rescue team searched for the couple but discovered they had died. The couple’s grandchild confirms the family plans to rebuild the house according to the original blueprints.
In the statement, the family said, ‘They were together and calm. There is no other way they would’ve preferred to leave this life and certainly, nowhere else they would have selected as a final resting place.”
According to CBS 4, the couple was the only confirmed deaths related to the fire. But three other people are currently missing.
[H/T: The Denver Channel]
