PORTSMOUTH, Va.— A deadly house fire in Portsmouth that took a mother's life and left her two children in critical condition has loved ones angry.
"I started hearing crackling and I immediately knew something was wrong," said Daesha Wilson, who lives next door. "I just flung my front door open and there was just black smoke everywhere and flames shooting out of the windows."
This all happened at a duplex on Neville Street late Friday night. Firefighters say when they got to the scene they learned two adults and one child escaped by climbing out of a window.
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Firefighters were able to rescue a woman and two children who were trapped inside. However, the fire took the life of a Portsmouth mother.
Monday morning, I went to the neighborhood to get updates and later learned the woman who did not survive is Aria Johnson.
I spoke with her best friend who was sitting outside of the burned down house. He says this is his way of grieving.
During our conversation he told me that Johnson's two children are on life support.
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Right now we don't know what caused the fire, but Johnson's friend says this was not the first fire at the home and Aria had made complaints to her landlord previously.
I called the city of Portsmouth to find out who the landlord is for the duplex and called the numbers connected to him, but no answer.
We're is still working to get answers for you on the cause of this fire, and if there were working smoke detectors inside the home at the time of the fire.
I also put in a request to the city to get details on fire code inspections and the number of times the fire department had to come to the home.
Stay with News 3 for the latest updates.
