DENVER (AP) — Two children died and four other people were hospitalized with life-threatening injuries after a fire late Wednesday night at a home in a Denver suburb, officials said.
Investigators don't yet know what caused the fire at the multistory home in a quiet neighborhood in Aurora, said Aurora Fire Rescue spokesman Andrew Logan.
A total of nine people were caught in the blaze, but officials didn't say if they are from a single family. All were hospitalized. A dog was also rescued.
Neighbor Nan Page-Stevens said there were more firetrucks and police cars than she'd seen in her life as responders mounted ladders on the house to get to the bedrooms on the second floor.
One firefighter cradled a baby and sprinted toward an ambulance, Page-Stevens recalled.
“The saddest was the little one,” she said, through tears.
Just days before, she had taken the kids red, white and blue popsicles.
Investigators moved in and out of the home Thursday with the smell of smoke still lingering, and two vases sat on the sidewalk filled with pink and yellow roses.
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Jesse Bedayn is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.