Woman Loses Parents & Her Three Daughters In Tragic Christmas Day Fire

THE EMBERS OF a late-night Yule log likely ignited the Christmas inferno that killed three small girls and their grandparents -- despite a flurry of futile rescue attempts, sources said.

Shortly after Madonna Badger and her boyfriend sat wrapping presents in the soft fireplace glow, the mother of three stood frantically screaming for help on the burning roof of her Connecticut mansion.

Badger, her boyfriend, her elderly dad and firefighters tried desperately to fight their way inside the blazing three-story home, but couldn’t overcome the soaring flames and searing heat.

The dead girl’s grandfather nearly pulled one trapped kid to safety, but he collapsed from carbon monoxide poisoning on a flat section of roof — and the two died just inches apart.

Lomer Johnson, 71, was found buried beneath blackened rubble just outside an open window near his granddaughter’s body.

“He died on the outside, and she died on the inside,” Stamford Fire Chief Antonio Conte said Monday. “She was right next to him.”

Renowned marketing exec Badger kept fighting to get inside the waterfront death house until she was finally subdued and loaded on a stretcher, an emergency worker told the Daily News.

The worker also told the News that a fire captain who risked his life by jumping through a window into the burning house was rescued by colleagues.

Badger and her boyfriend were up doing last-minute holiday prep until about 3 a.m., according to the emergency worker.

They loaded the embers into a container and placed the still-smoldering remains inside a foyer before heading to bed.

Investigators suspect the blaze started at that location inside the $1.7 million Victorian house overlooking the Long Island Sound, the emergency worker said.

Badger, 47, was frantically trying to steer rescuers to her trapped family when firefighters arrived.

“I can’t imagine what she’s going through,” said retired fire Capt. Bill Avalos, who visited the scene early Sunday. “I can’t even imagine. This is the worst tragedy I’ve ever seen.”

Dead in the blaze were 10-year-old Lily Badger, and her twin 7-year-old sisters, Sarah and Grace. Their grandparents, Lomer and wife Pauline, were also killed one day before their 49th wedding anniversary.