'A tremendous tragedy': Four children aged 5 to 12 killed in Connecticut in raging house fire
Four children aged 5, 6, 8 and 12 died in a raging house fire in Connecticut on Tuesday night, officials said.
When firefighters arrived the home was fully engulfed. They tried to rescue the children and extracted two through a second-floor window of the home in Somers, a town around 25 miles from Hartford, but they did not survive, Somers Fire Department Chief John Roache said.
Roache said one child was pronounced dead at the scene and the other died later at a hospital. Two other children were later found dead inside the house. Rescuers also found a litter of puppies had perished inside.
"This is a small community, so everybody knows everybody else," Roache said. "It definitely hurts."
Fire officials did not immediately identify the victims or provide additional comment to USA TODAY on Wednesday.
"It's a tremendous tragedy. It's going to take us a long time to get over this," First Selectman Tim Keeney told reporters.
Seven residents rescued after fire extinguishers no match for 'volume of fire'
Authorities responded to the fire just after 10:20 p.m., Connecticut State Trooper First Class Pedro Muñiz said in a press briefing on Wednesday.
The fire broke out in a duplex and on the side where the children were found, three other residents survived, one with severe burns and two with minor injuries, Muñiz said.
Four residents on the other side of the duplex managed to escape without injury. Some of the neighbors tried using fire extinguishers.
"But the volume of fire was just too great at that time," Roache said.
It took authorities more than two hours to tame the blaze, Roache said. One firefighter was left with burn injuries, he said.
More than 60 responders were involved in the effort. The Connecticut State Police Fire and Explosion Investigation Unit and Eastern District Major Crime Squad also took part, Muñiz said.
Keeney said the elementary and middle schools attended by the children have been notified. "It's a tremendous loss for the town," he added.
Roache said the blaze spread quickly to the second floor of the house and cut off the stairway.
An investigation into the cause is ongoing, Muñiz said. The deaths do not appear criminal in nature, he added.
"The house is pretty damaged," he said. "It is going to take some time as our investigators sift through everything to determine that cause."
Connecticut State Sen. John Kissel called the children's deaths "absolutely heartbreaking" in a statement shared with USA TODAY.
"Our prayers go out to the victims, to their loved ones, to the fire personnel, and to everyone in Somers," he wrote. "This is such a tragedy, and as a state, we grieve collectively.”
Contributing: Associated Press
Cybele Mayes-Osterman is a breaking news reporter for USA Today. Reach her on email at cmayesosterman@usatoday.com. Follow her on X @CybeleMO.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Four children dead in devastating Somers, Connecticut, house fire
