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Father Of Children Killed In Ohio Fire Opens Up About Loss

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Instead of celebrating a 10th birthday this week, a Minnesota mom and dad will lay both their children to rest.

"I get angry at this even being a possibility to happen to anybody," said Brian Foster, the children's father.

Foster is back in Minnesota, after traveling from Ohio with his children's ashes. Twelve-year-old Aaron and 9-year-old Kathryn died in a house fire while staying at their aunt's house near Columbus.

It started near a space heater. There were no smoke detectors in the home. Foster sat down with Susan-Elizabeth Littlefield to talk about unfathomable loss.

Kathryn's giggles, Aaron's creative inventions, the way kids grow up in front of your eyes -- that is what Brian Foster says he'll miss the most.

"There's a sorrow, this deep, deep sorrow, but there's some peace around that," Foster said.

He's finding some from riding Aaron's beloved bike and sitting in Irvine Park -- the park the best friends loved, the place they'll be memorialized on Friday. He even took their ashes on a road trip to the lake they loved.

"My emotions were literally changing every second, between every breath, it was a different emotion -- whether it be anger, sorrow, disbelief, all of the above," Foster said.

Shock is how it started, a quick door knock that changed his life forever.

"I looked through the peephole and it was an officer and a priest. I didn't know what to think," he said.

He sprinted to the nearby apartment where the children's mother lives and told her.

"That's when it became a reality for her and I as parents and we both collapsed on the ground. That was hard," Foster said.

So he is planning a funeral on the very week Kathryn was to turn 10. The memorial will be at Irvine Park at 11 a.m. on Friday.

The children's mother Laura, he says, is still in utter shock. He shared a statement she wrote for Kathryn's birthday on Wednesday:

Dearest friends, family and community,
I am absolutely overwhelmed and deeply touched by the outpouring of love, support, and generosity at this time of unfathomable loss.  Your actions have carried me while I've been unable to stand, and for that, I am forever grateful.  Thank you, from the depths of my being.
Kathryn was a blossom sweeter than any peony, brighter than sunshine, and emotionally intelligent way beyond her years.  She was my angel, forever nine, forever mine, I will mourn and miss her, till the day I die.

Foster says he does not blame the child's aunt -- he believes she did what she could to get the kids out.

Those wishing to help can donate to a GoFundMe page set up for the children's memorial.

But Brian says what everyone can do is make sure their smoke detectors work and they have a family escape plan.

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