By John Flesher
The Associated Press
ROGERS CITY, Mich. — A house fire Tuesday in northern Michigan killed four children and their father, authorities said.
A neighbor of the family in Rogers City, about 210 miles north of Detroit, called 911 early Tuesday morning, officials said. Presque Isle County emergency responders found the home engulfed in flames and the five victims inside.
Terry Langlois said he called 911 after being awakened by his dog’s barking and seeing the house across the street on fire.
“Flames were coming from everywhere,” Langlois said. “I could see the woman outside banging on her bedroom window. I called 911, put on my clothes and ran outside. By then, she was in my driveway.
“The house was too far gone for anyone to get in there.”
Langlois, 53, said the woman told him she and her husband were asleep with the two younger children in a downstairs bedroom when her 15-year-old daughter banged on her door, saying the living room was on fire.
“She told me she screamed at her daughter to get out and hollered at her husband to get out,” Langlois said. “He said, `You get out, and I’ll get the kids.’”
The woman told Langlois that she crawled out the back door before realizing no one was behind her. She then ran to the front of the house, thinking her husband took that way out, but he wasn’t there either.