Four children die in house fire in Connecticut

Four children in one family died Tuesday evening in a fast-moving fire that ripped through their Connecticut home. An older sibling, who is an adult, survived after jumping from a second-story window, fire officials said.

“I am absolutely devastated,” their father, who asked not to be named, wrote in a Facebook post. “They’re my babies.”

Three of the children died at the scene of the fire in Somers, Connecticut, a small community about 25 miles northeast of Hartford, the state capital, said John Roache, the city’s fire chief.

A fourth child died in a hospital.

“It’s an unbelievable loss,” Somers first selectman Tim Keeney said told NBC Connecticutand added, “It’s going to take a long time to get over it.”

The children were trapped on the second floor of a two-family home, Mr. Roache said. Firefighters had difficulty entering the home through the front door, the back door and a second-floor window, he said.

The family living on the other side of the house managed to escape.

Officials have not yet determined a cause of the fire, but a state police official said the fire did not appear to be the result of foul play.

Mr. Roache said firefighters responded to Quality Ave. around 10:20 p.m. 44 were sent. When the first crew arrived, about five minutes after the call, flames had swept across the front of the house, he said.

He said the fire spread quickly.

Mr Roache said there were several pets in the house. Firefighters rescued three dogs, but said a litter of puppies died.

“This is such a tragedy, and as a state we collectively mourn,” Senator John A. Kissel, who represents Somers, said in a statement. He called the fire “absolutely heartbreaking.”

The family who shared the two-family home — two parents, three children and a dog named Mochi, were physically unharmed — according to a GoFundMe campaign set up to raise money for them. They are now homeless, the fundraiser said.

“They escaped their burning home with nothing but the pajamas they were wearing,” wrote Colleen Karoliszyn, the fundraiser’s organizer.

Kitty Bennett research contributed.