MASSENA, N.Y. (WCAX) – Six people are dead after a fire ripped through a home in Northern New York Monday night.
Firefighters were called to the home at 6 Chase Street in Massena at about 10 p.m. Monday. They found a thick haze of smoke when they arrived.
Authorities say five members of the same family died in the fire: a mother, father and three boys. They say a sixth person, a woman, later died later at the hospital.
A next-door neighbor told WCAX News they think it was the whipping wind– at some points over 40 mph– that spread the fire from the back of the house to the front.
Tuesday, Massena’s school superintendent confirmed that three children who died were students in the district.
The school offered counseling on Tuesday in the library.
Neighbor Doug Fregoe said the family lived in the house for a few years and he enjoyed always seeing the kids playing outside.
“It is difficult because we have never had anything this close to our own home and it just hurts. There is nothing you can do,” Fregoe said.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
