The Associated Press
WARREN, Ohio — Fire swept through a family’s home early Thursday that appeared to have no smoke detectors, killing six people, including four children, fire officials said.
The dead included two adults, their two children and two other children who were visiting, said Shane Cartmill, a spokesman for the Ohio fire marshal’s office. It wasn’t clear whether the other two children were related to the family or were friends, he said.
Erica Putro, 36, who lives across the street in this community about 50 miles southeast of Cleveland, said she ran outside looking for the family, hoping she could give them a place to stay.
By that time it was too late. Rescuers already had brought out some of the victims.
Firefighters held up sheets when they carried the victims to the ambulances, she said. “They were respectful of the bodies,” she said.
Most of the damage was toward the back of the Cape Cod-style house. “The back of the roof is gone and the siding is melted and falling down to the driveway,” Putro said.
The family included a boy and a girl. “They were always outside playing. It’s going to be hard not to see them out there,” she said.
No sign of any smoke alarms were found in the home, Cartmill said. The investigation into the fire’s cause and origin was likely to take most of the day Thursday, he said.
The names and ages of the victims were not immediately available.