Mother and son die in fire, two escape

WEST SENECA, N.Y. (WIVB) - A massive morning fire engulfed a home in the southtowns, Friday. The flames claimed the lives of a mother and her child, forcing two other children to leap for their lives, amidst the mother's cries.

Nancy Crance, 51, and her son Austin Crance, 12, died in the blaze. Nancy’s children 20-year-old Hayden Henessy and 15-year-old Ian Crance escaped the flames. The tragic fire moved many to tears. Friends, family members, firefighters, first responders and police are all mourning the tragic loss.

Everything happened so quickly. “The house was completely, completely engulfed in flames,” said a neighbor.

Around 8 a.m. Friday in West Seneca, neighbors say they heard screams and glass breaking, so they ran outside on Covington Drive and saw huge flames and heavy smoke.

One of the neighbors said two children were hanging out of the windows, trying to escape the fast-moving fire. “I told the boy to jump and then the girl was in the second story window holding her cat out the window, I told her to drop her cat, she dropped the cat. Then I had to persuade her to jump,” the man said.

Another neighbor, Donna Rigby, said, “The daughter was screaming, ‘my mom and my brother are in there.’ Ethan was saying, 'We couldn’t gather up the cats, the cats are in there, they’re going to die.’ It was awful.”

West Seneca Police Assistant Chief Dan Denz confirmed that both Nancy and Austin were pronounced dead at the scene.

Rigby says she comforted the children who escaped the flames. She says one of the children heard their mother screaming, but there was nothing she could do.

Rigby explained, “The last thing Haley said she heard her mom say was ‘Oh my God, there’s a fire.’”  She said the children were in shock but the young girl wouldn’t leave the scene and wouldn't leave her mother behind.

“Haley wouldn’t come with me. She wanted to see her mom, she was waiting for her mom,” Rigby said.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.