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Kris J. Murante / AP
Rochester firefighters work at the scene of a fatal fire at a home early Saturday.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Four children died and four others were hospitalized Saturday after a fire raged through a two-story house on the city's west side.
Firefighters responding to an early-morning call of a rubbish fire found what appeared to be some clothing burning in front of the wood-framed house, which contains side-by-side apartments, Rochester Fire Chief John Caufield told reporters.
They put out that blaze, knocked on the door, walked around the house and saw another fire inside “that appeared to have occurred while we were here,” Caufield said.
Crews pulled a woman and infant from a first-floor apartment before the blaze quickly spread to the second floor, Caufield said.
Four children who appeared to be in their early teens or younger were later found dead on the second floor, WHEC-TV reported.
Four other people were taken by ambulance to a hospital, the Democrat and Chronicle reported.
The cause of the blaze was under investigation.
"The firefighters were actually enveloped in flames for a brief time," Caufield told the Democrat and Chronicle. "We withdrew them. There was just no possible way for them to make a search or any further entry in there without really sacrificing their own lives."
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How horrible it must have felt to be burned to death like that.
People need to be more responsible with their fires.
Typically victims die due to smoke inhalation before they are "burned to death".
That happens sometimes, but it depends on where the fire is and how much you're surrounded by it. Only takes a moment to burn to death.
I feel badly for the victims, their families AND the firefighters. Firefighters are very brave men and women, who put their lives on the line to try to save others, and I am sure they felt very badly, that they couldn't save everyone.
God bless those left behind who grieve.
Yes, including the firefighters. The fact that they had to be "withdrawn" after allowing themselves to be enveloped in flames indicates the lengths they went to to do everything possible to evacuate the victims. I'm sure that they did.
It's events like this that make firefighting such a tough job, not the risks they take.
May they find piece in their new lives
A "piece" of what? I hope they find PEACE in their 'new' lives.
You're pathetic - I'll bet you haven't showered in a week.
No it's actually not pathetic, what IS pathetic is that in this day and age with everyone having access to education someone can make such an elementary mistake, which gives a completely different meaning to the sentence.
Terrible, but this is happening much to often.
It doesn't happen any more now than it did in the past. It's just now these sleazeball journalists have to make a story about every terrible thing that happens in this country. As if the economy being bad isn't enough, they have to bring people down even more with these stories of tragedy.
Actually fire deaths are way down from years ago. The way these things are reported makes it seem otherwise.
I hate reading stories like this, they are so sad. My heartfelt condolences to the family and prayers to the people that are in the hospital.
Two words. Smoke Alarms.
It is apparent that in this case, smoke detectors would not have helped as is the case in most arson fires. And this will prove out to be an arson fire. I can say this with certainy because I have 10 years in as an arson investigator. This being said, smoke detectors do save lives in most accidental fires WHEN they work. Too many times the batteries are dead or just GONE. They have to be maintained to work.
so sad :( 4 young lives taken. people need to be more responsible!!!!
This does not sound like it was a accidental fire, it has to many strange circumstances to it, something is not right in this situation. Smoke detectors? Be responsible? someone set that fire.
My son was burned in a terrible accident! He was burned 86% of his body and all were 3rd degree. As a Mother of a 19 year old, it was horriffic to see. I was at the hospital every day. He was given 189 units of blood, platelets, countless number of surgeries. He was on a ventalator for months, died so many times and came back. I know it is hard to read and yet even hard enough to see. Be educated and never leave their side. You may view pics of this if you have the stomache for it. I posted them for educational purposes. He did survive and he has no long term effects due to the care I had given him.
angeleyes44: Praise the Lord!! I am glad your son survived --God is great
Sometimes we have no control of the fires, I agree most people need to be a lot more responsible, 50% of all accidents where out of their hands.
I wish you and your son happier days Angeleyes44. : )
So very sad for this family. Seems it's been a week of sad news for so many, and it makes my heart heavy with grief.
In my opinion, the odd circumstances of this story suggest foul play...
i.e. "...rubbish fire found what appeared to be some clothing burning in front of the house,..."
also,
"...They put out that blaze, knocked on the door, walked around the house and saw another fire inside 'that appeared to have occurred while we were here,' Caufield said."
We recently had a fire in my city. Two young girls died.
The parents were charged with child abuse and endangerment, but the charges were dropped because of lack of evidence.
The father is a convicted drug dealer and user. He was arrested the day of the fire for over 20 probation violations.
He was in the house with the children and was probably stoned the day of the fire. the fire had gained allot of headway when a neighbor reported it.
With a a fire station was just blocks away nothing could be done to save the children. Of course the father was able to get out with his son and saved himself.
A few changes in our system could make a difference.
The adult parties that live together and are drawing public assistance, food stamps, medical benefits and unemployment benefits should be screened. If eitherr one test positive remove the children, stop the benefit until the case is adjudicated.
Make it a felony for slumlords hat fail to provide working smoke alarms and CO detectors when their is death or injury in a fire. If they fail to provide them slap a stiff fine on them and lock the building up.
Fire officials, code inspector's, and buiding inspectors would be reqired to report the violatons to law enforcement and take action .
Most of these fires are in the slums where people just dump trash all over in the house and out.
Admittedly the area where this occurred is not the best in town, but it is not fair to say that. I know the area and that is an ignorant thing to say unless you know what you are talking about. Something else happened here. It was not an accident due to living in the 'slums'.
Are you a slum dweller, Glenn? If not, how do you know? I have seen many dwellings in low income areas that one could almost eat off the floor.Trash has nothing to do with this fire.
Who ever set this fire should suffer the same fate as their victims. I can think of no worse way to die than buring to death.
Ray show me one and as such housing for those on welfare
Most people in lower income live in old wooden homes. They don't just catch fire because the people live like hoarders do, but because they have quick burning old wood and they probably don't have a good plan on what to do when disaster strikes. My parents were pretty stupid at times when I was growing up, but they always told us kids what to do in various disaster scenarios. This was before they had all the kits they have now, my mom showed how to safely lower ourself out the second story window of our bedroom if there was ever a fire in the hall, etc.
Oh you mean like the house that I watched burn in a upscale area where I live? Was on the news the other day in the Washington DC area. Glenn, really? REALLY? REALLY???????!!!!!!!! clueless jerk
Condolences to the family and friends of the victims.
40% of statistics are made up and 76% of the people believe them.
Do we have to read these horrible stories every day? The media thrives on these horror stories. I didn't read the article, reading the title was enough. I don't need to read the terrible details. Every day, it's a story about death or destruction. Something bad happening to other people.
In your fantasy world, the media would report that the world is full of candy canes and lollipops.
Reality might not be pretty, but that's reality.
Tired of bad news? How about some GOOD NEWS? The good news of Jesus Christ who died on the cross for the forgiveness of sins. He paid the penalty so that we don't have to. All we have to do is reach out and accept the free gift of Jesus and His forgiveness. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him will have eternal life." "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved..." "For by grace you have been saved. Not as a result of works that no one may boast." Just reach out to Jesus and He is there for you. You just need to ask. Forgiveness of sins and eternal life in heaven. Isn't that GOOD NEWS?
Samantha: Amen!
Actually, I thought the story of Jesus dying for a bunch of ungrateful dicks to be pretty sad...
Holy Cow that's funny, you just made my day
The point of these tragic stories is to enlighten and educate us. It's not easy reading stuff like this, but you never know what could happen to YOU. I have a sister who doesn't understand why I won't allow my ten year old boys to walk to their school, which is about a 10 minute walk. The answer is simple: A lot of sh*t can happen in 10 minutes. I have read the horror stories and I know my worst nightmare can come true. "It was just around the corner!", one mom would say. "I only turned my back for a minute!" the next one would say. I understand accidents happen, but why take unnecessary risks? These are my children for God's sake! Some people live in a bubble, and they think nothing bad will happen to them. My sister lets her 5 year old ride around the block on his bike, alone, where she can't see him. I asked her was she not worried about strangers, possible pediphiles? Her answer was "We don't have people like that in our town." She seriously said that. I pray for her children.
I feel so horrible for the family that remains from these children. This is a such tragedy.
Hopefully this was an accident...Rest in peace and prayers for the greiving survivors...
To the lost little souls may you rest in peace,to the family there are no words strong enough to express my condolences,and to the person or people responsible for this (since it dose sound suspicious) justice should come to you quickly on earth,and will in the hands of GOD!!!!
May God bless all those perished and hurt from this tragic fire. Firefighters really have a dangerous job and sacrifice themselves to protect others. Speedy recovery for the persons hospitalized.
Those poor little babies! I can tell you how my youngest son almost burned down my mothers big old house years ago. Kids do strange things. My oldest had snuck matches from somewhere in the house, everyone smoked, easy to come by. Apparently my 5 year old took the matches from his brothers pocket after everyone went to bed. He and his brother were in a room by themselves and He apparently lit the matches in front of the closed door and when the rug started to catch fire, he tried to put it out with a bottle of alcohol he found in the bathroom which accelerated it. My 10 year old woke and put it out with water. I cried when I found out that spending the night at grams could have ended in such a tragedy because of being a wood house, it would have burned fast.
My heart is aching. Condolences to their families and neighbors too
i live in upstate new york an we hav had alot of loss.4 children burned in a house fire 2 days ago an today we had 4 teens killd in one accident.2 teens in each car hit head on.its everywhere.but that father killed his 2 children bfor he set the fire,then he set th fire an killed himself.there was no helping anyone in that house.an with or without smoke alarms it didnt matter.he knew what he was doing...so sad...rest in peace little angels....