Four members of one family, including two children, died in a house fire in a southwestern Ontario community early Wednesday morning, according to a neighbour.
Adrienne Gerry said she ran across the street as flames and heavy smoke engulfed her friends' home in Port Colborne, Ont. and watched emergency responders try to revive a woman.
Two other family members managed to escape and told Gerry that a mother and her two children, aged 2 and 15, remained inside the burning home, she said.
"They put her on the cement and then they tried to revive her there -- then they put her in the ambulance," Gerry said through tears.
Firefighters were called to the two-storey home in the Lake Erie community, south of Welland, Ont., around 1:20 a.m.
Niagara Regional police Const. Phil Gavin said emergency responders removed one person from the home, but rescuers could not save that person's life.
He said three people remain unaccounted for, but are believed to be inside.
Gerry is close friends with the family and said she visits them daily. She said the victims include a woman, her two children and her grandmother.
She said the children's father and their great uncle were able to escape.
By Wednesday morning the fire had been extinguished, but the home remained unsafe to enter, Gavin said.
"Right now, the entire roof has collapsed into the residence and it burned for a little while so it's certainly a concern whether it's safe to put people in there," he said.
Gavin said it was too early to determine the cause of the fire, adding that the Ontario Fire Marshal's office is on scene investigating as well as the coroner.
Gerry said she is crushed at the overwhelming loss. Her daughters, aged 8 and 10, were excited for Christmas because they adored their two-year-old neighbour.
"We got him a cute little outfit," Gerry said, crying. "Now, I don't know what we'll do."
