4 children killed, 2 others injured in Iowa house fire
Four children were killed and two other people were injured in a house fire that broke out early Wednesday morning in northern Iowa.
Mason City firefighters were called to the fire at about 5 a.m. local time. It happened in an older home located in a neighborhood near the city's downtown.
Crews arriving could see flames in the first and second floors of the house, according to a news release from the Mason City Fire Department.
The four children killed were identified as: John Michael Mcluer, 12; Odin Thor Mcluer, 10; Drako Mcluer, 6; and Phenix Mcluer, 3.
The fire department said John Michael Mcluer, 55, and Ravan Dawn Mcluer, 11, had evacuated the home before firefighters arrived, according to CBS affiliate KIMT. It is unclear how or if they are related to the children.
All six people were taken to the hospital, where the senior John Michael Mcluer and Ravan Dawn Mcluer were treated for burn injuries and the other children were pronounced dead, KIMT reported, adding that the children's causes of death will be determined by a medical examiner.
The cause of the fire hadn't been determined but the fire department said foul play wasn't suspected. A neighbor who lives across the street from the Mcluer house, and who called 911 early Wednesday after seeing the flames, told KIMT that she woke up to a man outside yelling, "Fire!" By the time she called to report the blaze, it had engulfed a significant part of the house, the neighbor said, according to KIMT.
Mason City is a community of about 27,000 people. It is in northern Iowa, 110 miles north of Des Moines.