Three children killed, two injured in Opelika house fire

Three children were killed and two others were injured Thursday afternoon in an Opelika house fire on South Long Street, Lee County Coroner Bill Harris announced in a news release.

The names of the three deceased have yet to be released. Their bodies will be taken to the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences medical examiner’s office in Montgomery, Ala. for a postmortem examination, the coroner said late Thursday.

Opelika officials responded around 4:20 p.m. Thursday to house fire in the 1300 block of South Long Street, where five children were trapped in the residence. When authorities arrived on the scene, smoke and fire was coming from the home.

Firefighters were able to get the children, whose ages range from 3 to 11, out of the burning residence. They were rushed to the East Alabama Medical Center.

Two of the children, who were in critical condition at the time, were later airlifted to Children’s Hospital in Birmingham for further treatment. Three of the fire victims died from their injuries at the hospital.

“The state fire marshal responded to the scene and will be there along with Opelika fire and police most of the night investigating to determine the cause of the fire,” Harris said. “No other details are being released now as it is early in the investigation.”

This story was originally published January 13, 2017 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Three children killed, two injured in Opelika house fire."