‘Hysterical’ Madonna Badger Battled Firefighters To Get Back Into Burning House To Rescue 'Her Babies'

"It is an ongoing investigation," he said, but added that "the preliminary cause was accidental and that is the way it will be expected to stay."

The Badger family and their loved ones are not the only people struggling to cope with the devastation that the blaze left in its path, as many of the firefighters who were called to the emergency have to cope with the stress of losing people they were there to save.

"Our main goal is to protect lives and property. We are out there helping people, and 99 percent of the time we are successful to some degree," revealed the fire chief. "For our firefighters, the outcome was already determined before they came on the scene so it was very frustrating for them.

"Added to that, there were children involved and it was Christmas, so there was a great emotional impact for us to deal with something so beyond our control."

As Brown went on to explain, the fire destroyed the $1.7 million home so quickly that it was too late to save the family.

"The fire was burning out of control when we got there," he said. "It got a good head start without anyone knowing about it," and then ripped through the historic 115-year-old house because it was made of old dried-out wood and built before there were fire stops.

"It spread quickly inside the walls and into the house."

Counselors were brought in to talk with the firefighters to help them cope with the stress of what they helplessly witnessed on Christmas Eve as Badger wailed and screamed, "My babies! My babies!"

"They felt they couldn’t perform the service of rescuing the occupants despite a very aggressive attempt."

Brown explained that investigators assume Badger and Borcina escaped by climbing out through a window and onto the wrap-around porch.