Loved ones are remembering two women killed in a house fire in New Brighton this week.

Firefighters got a call around 2 a.m. Wednesday from one of the women inside the house, according to Kip LaMotte, fire marshal at New Brighton Public Safety.

When crews arrived, flames were shooting out of a window in the upper level at the front of the home, used as a craft room.

LaMotte said the fire blocked the women from being able to escape through the front door.

“They would have had to go through the fire to get out the front door, so they were kind of trapped in the bedrooms,” LaMotte said.

After pulling the women from the home, firefighters tried to save their lives, but both later died at the hospital.

The victims are identified as 78-year-old Diana Davies and 37-year-old Maya Davies. 

LaMotte noted there was no smoke alarm installed on that level of the home.

“They didn’t get adequate notice to be able to rescue themselves and that’s hard,” LaMotte said. “The chances of survival increase by 50% if you do have a working smoke alarm in your home.”

“My brain just doesn’t want to accept it all the way,” said Heather Amo, daughter of Diana and sister of Maya. “The world is a little less brighter place because my mom and sister are not in it anymore.”

She hopes both women will be remembered as “helpers.”

She said Diana Davies was passionate about equality and bridging the gaps for those who are disadvantaged, while Maya Davies worked as an aide in a German immersion school and ran several afterschool clubs for kids.

While grappling with the tragic loss of her family members, she hopes it will serve as a reminder for everyone to have working smoke detectors.

“If what happened to them helps prevent that from happening to someone else, someone else’s family from suffering like we are, that would be amazing,” Amo said.

LaMotte shared this advice from New Brighton Public Safety:

• Smoke alarms should be tested monthly.
• Smoke alarm batteries should be changed at least once a year.
• All smoke alarms should be replaced every 10 years.
• Install smoke alarms in every bedroom, outside each sleeping area and on every level of the home, including the basement.
• Interconnect your home smoke alarms. This way, when one sounds, they all sound.
• Teach children the sound of the smoke alarm and to exit the home when it sounds.
• Place alarms on the ceiling. If alarms are placed on the wall, they must be no more than 12 inches below the ceiling.

He added, “Detectors now have stamped-on “made on” dates, so if your smoke alarm doesn’t have a date on it, it’s too old. Also, if your alarm is 20 years old, when you change batteries and test it, you’re only testing the audability of that alarm. You’re not testing the smoke sensor. Those are only listed to last for 10 years, so if you have a smoke detector more than 10 years old, odds are it’s not going to work. The sensor is not going to sense smoke and it’s not going to alarm the residents to get out.”

The fire marshal is still investigating the cause of this fire, but it has been ruled accidental.