Cooper Bailey, his wife Jennifer, and their son Hudson died in the horrific accident in Cooke County, Texas on Saturday, March 14
Credit: Hudson & Torres Family Funeral Home
NEED TO KNOW
- A firefighter, his wife and their son have died following a tragic car accident in Cooke County, Texas on Saturday, March 14
- Cooper Bailey, his wife Jennifer, and their son Hudson have been identified as the victims of the crash, per Facebook posts shared by Wise County Emergency Services District 3
- The couple’s young daughter, Lilah, survived the tragedy and is being treated in hospital
A 31-year-old firefighter has died alongside his wife and son following a head-on car crash in Cooke County, Texas.
On Sunday, March 15, the Wise County Emergency Services District 3 announced in a post on Facebook that Paradise firefighter Cooper Bailey, his wife Jennifer Bailey, and their son Hudson had died in "a tragic accident."
They also confirmed that the couple's young daughter, Lilah, had survived and was being treated in hospital.
“Firefighter Bailey was a dedicated member of this department, and his loss is felt deeply by us all,” they wrote. “We ask for your prayers and for privacy for the family during this unimaginable time.”
Credit: Hudson & Torres Family Funeral Home
The tragic incident took place on Saturday, March 14, with officers from the Texas Department of Public Safety responding to the crash involving two vehicles near highway FM-51 and County Road 383 at around 8:20 p.m. local time in Cooke County, according to KDFW’s Fox 4 News Dallas-Fort Worth.
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A Kia SUV was found to have been traveling southbound on FM-51 when it tried to overtake another vehicle in a no-passing zone, per Fox 4 News Dallas-Fort Worth.
The Kia SUV then crashed head-on with a Nissan SUV, which then burst into flames, the outlet reported.
Cooper, who was a volunteer firefighter, and his family had been in the Nissan SUV at the time of the tragedy, per Fox 4 News Dallas-Fort Worth.
Cooper, his wife and their son were pronounced dead at the scene, and the driver of the Kia SUV also died, according to the Wise County Messenger.
Cooper’s daughter, Lilah, sustained serious injuries in the accident and remains in a local hospital, Fox 4 News Dallas-Fort Worth stated.
Paradise Fire Chief Jeremy Goodman told the outlet that a passer-by had pulled Cooper's daughter out of the crashed SUV, but weren't able to rescue everybody.
"Listening to the report of what we’ve been told, we know what happened,” he said, per the station. "It is one of those, regardless of who it is or where it is. When you arrive on the scene, you obviously do the best you can to make any rescues you can, but sometimes it’s just not, it’s just not going to happen.”
Wise County Emergency Services District 3 posted pictures of Lilah smiling in hospital with her school counselor in a Facebook update on Tuesday. The little girl was captured in a neck brace with her arm in a cast.
Following the tragedy, many have paid tribute to Cooper and his family.
"Cooper was the kind of person that would take the shirt off of his own back and give it to a complete stranger, no questions asked, and that showed dearly through his perseverance and dedication to serving not only the citizens of Paradise but everyone he met," Nathan Doughty, a Paradise firefighter, wrote in a Facebook post.
PEOPLE has reached out to the Texas Department of Public Safety and Wise County Emergency Services District 3 for comment, but didn't immediately receive a response.
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