Late-night house fire kills two young children

BERKELEY, Mo. -- A fire just before midnight Saturday claimed the lives of two children -- ages 2 and 3 -- in this St. Louis area town. Authorities said at least three other people were taken to hospitals. Authorities believe an overloaded electrical outlet in the basement was to blame for the fire.

Smoke was so thick when police officers initially arrived that immediate rescue attempts were impossible. They had to wait for firefighters, who were equipped with portable breathing units.

"So close to the holidays," said a neighbor who asked that her name not be used. "I couldn't even talk about it last night. It was just so painful."

Occasionally on Sunday, a small group of the children -- some of whom had played with the two children who died -- stood on the sidewalk directly in front of the house, hung with strands of white Christmas lights, where the smell of smoke still hung thick in the air.

Gray said she was alerted to the fire by a woman screaming in the front yard of the house. "Somebody help me," Gray said the woman was crying, "I've got kids in there!"

Neighbor Lessie Harris said she meets with her three children every Sunday to talk about something she feels is important to their lives. This Sunday, she said, she would talk about the fire.

"We want them to understand how important it is to have a smoke detector and to have a plan," she said. "I want them to know that when we're teaching them these things, there's a reason."