An early morning house fire in Michigan has killed two children, according to multiple reports citing officials.
Emergency crews responded to a report of a house fire around 2 a.m. Monday in Kalamazoo, the Associated Press reported.
The Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety (KDPS) said the two victims have been identified as Evelyn Blackport, 4, and Elliot James Blackport, 7, according to MLive.com.
An adult and another child ran away from the home, according to the outlet.
Authorities said responding firefighters first found a heavy fire on the first floor before it quickly moved to the second floor, WZZM reported.
A neighbor, Ciara Coleman, recalled to MLive that the adult who fled said his children were still inside the home.
Another neighbor, Antawn Perkins, who called 911, told WZZM the woman was “running around saying her kids were inside, ‘Help, help. Someone help me, my children are still in the house.”
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“They tried to run into the house to get the kids,” Perkins continued, “but the flames were too much for them.”
Coleman, who said it took firefighters more than an hour to bring the blaze under control, told MLive that neighbors tried to rescue the children and put out the fire themselves. She added that firefighters prevented the woman, identified by Coleman as the children’s mother, from entering the burning home.
“It was really sad that two of the kids didn’t make it out,” Coleman said, per MLive.
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The cause of the fire is under investigation and appears to be accidental, officials told the AP.
“This is an unfortunate tragedy and KDPS wishes to extend its deepest condolences to the victims and families,” the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety said in a news release.
Later in the day, neighbor Crystal Baldwin left a stuffed animal outside the burned house as a memorial to the victims.
“I can only imagine how mom feels right now,” Baldwin told NBC station WOOD. “I didn’t even want to sleep last night. I wanted to make sure, you know, that those babies were okay, and when they woke up this morning, they weren’t.”
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Perkins also told WOOD that the family from the home had been staying in the neighborhood for about a month.
PEOPLE reached out to KDPS for comment on Monday.
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