Officials: Ohio Fire Kills 3 Children

A fire destroyed a house, killing three children and burying their bodies when part of the structure collapsed into the basement, a fire official said Wednesday.

Five other people escaped when the fire broke out late Tuesday, Fire Chief Stan Crosley said.

The Fire Department did not release specific ages of the children, saying only that all were under 18. Their bodies were recovered with the use of heavy equipment and sent to the coroner's office in Dayton.

The house was already engulfed when firefighters arrived, and sections began collapsing a short time later, officials said. Several passers-by were unable to enter, the officials said.

Two girls, ages 14 and 12, jumped from a second-floor window, and three other people _ two adults and a 9-year-old boy _ fled through a back door, according to the Fire Department.

The house is in an unincorporated area with no fire hydrants in western Ohio's Shelby County, and a tanker shuttle was used to carry water to fight the blaze, fire Lt. Cameron Haller said. Icy conditions also hampered firefighters.

The 14-year-old girl was admitted to Lima Memorial Hospital. The other four survivors were treated for minor injuries and then released, the chief said.

The cause of the fire had not been determined.