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At Least 5 Children, 4 Adults Dead In Memphis House Fire

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - Nine people - five children and four adults - died early Monday in Memphis' deadliest house fire in decades, and one other child is fighting for life at a hospital, authorities said.

Firefighters initially saw light smoke outside of the single-story wood-and-brick home in south Memphis when they arrived about 1:20 a.m. but quickly encountered heavy smoke inside once they entered the building, Memphis Fire Services Director Gina Sweat said.

Fire crews found four adults and three children dead inside, Sweat said at a news conference. Two other children died after being taken to a children's hospital in extremely critical condition, she said.

One other child remains hospitalized, said Sweat, calling it the deadliest fire in Memphis since the 1920s. More recently, seven people died in a fire here in 2008, fire department spokesman Wayne Cooke said.

Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland asked for prayers for family members of the dead, who weren't immediately identified. Some of the victims had signs of smoke inhalation, while others had burns, according to authorities.

"It's a very sad day," Strickland said. "We are all in mourning."

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The wooden-frame home, which has a brick facade and bars on some of its windows and doors, is in a poor, working-class neighborhood of south Memphis. A smoke detector was found in the house, but it was damaged and officials didn't immediately know if it was working at the time of the fire, Sweat said.

The fire official also said it wasn't immediately clear if those inside had tried to escape through the windows. Sweat said window bars present a danger for people trying to escape a house fire, though many window bars have releases that can open them from the inside.

"They could have been simply overcome by smoke and never had an opportunity to escape," she said.

An exact cause hasn't yet been determined, though Sweat said the fire apparently began in the living room. While the inside of the home was charred, the house didn't burn down and fire officials said only part of the house was affected by the fire.

Sweat went to the site early Monday and spoke with firefighters shocked by the loss of life.

"You could feel the heavy in their hearts, and you could see the pain in their eyes," she said.

Frederick Terrell, who described himself as a friend of the father of the children, said he knew the family well and is stunned. He added they used to have neighborhood parties and were a close-knit family.

"It's hard," Terrell said. "Those kids were so loving, man."

Hours after the fire, a woman knelt on the ground outside the home and wept. Other people hugged each other along the street and neighbors stood by, watching as members of the fire department went about the home, now roped off by by yellow crime scene taped draped along a wire fence out front.

A red motorized children's toy truck and a red bicycle with no wheels sat outside of the home.

(Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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