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Four children dead in house fire in rural Monroe County

TOWNSHIP OF LITTLE FALLS, Wis. (WXOW) -- A late night house fire in rural Monroe County has claimed the lives of four children according to the Monroe County Sheriff's Office.

The Sparta Area Fire District received a call for a house fire on Backtrail Road in the Town of Little Falls shortly after 9 p.m. Thursday evening.

According to Chief Mike Arnold, a person who was using the bathroom on the first floor of the home tried to alert the four people upstairs about the fire. The person then left the home and went to a neighbor's home to call 911 to report the fire and that people were trapped upstairs.

When crews arrived, the home was fully engulfed in flames. Sparta Area Fire District Chief Mike Arnold tells WXOW that the intensity of the fire prevented crews from entering the home and forced them to fight the fire from the outside.  

While fire crews were able to extinguish the fire from the outside and eventually enter the home, but then the second floor of the home then collapsed.

Chief Arnold has confirmed that the four victims have all been found along with several pets.

Captain Jeffrey Spencer of the Monroe County Sheriff's Office confirmed that it was four children who died in the fire. The sheriff's office didn't release the names or ages of the victims. 

The sheriff's office is asking that the community respect the family's privacy at this time. 

Investigators including the state fire marshal's office are looking into the cause of the fire. 

Late Friday morning, Melrose-Mindoro Superintendent Jeff Arzt notified parents and guardians in a Facebook post that the four children who died in the fire were students at the elementary school. The post said the district has brought in additional counselors to help students and staff deal with the loss. 

More at WKOW 27 News


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