Greensboro Reporter

A deadly house fire has cast a black cloud over a Greensboro family’s holiday season.

Fire officials said they responded to a call on Grimsley Street on Monday, and three children under the age of 5 were found dead in the home.

“This is devastating,” Deputy Chief of the Greensboro Fire Department Dwayne Church said, according to NewsBreak. “This is devastating to the fire department, devastating to our community, devastating to this family.” 

Firefighters arrived to find the house fully engulfed, with flames coming out of every window and door.

Neighbors told firefighters where the children’s bedroom was, Church said, and firefighters raised a ladder and went in to try to save the youngsters, but it was too late; all they could do was extract the bodies from the burning structure. The mother of the children was was taken to Cone Health Moses Cone Hospital, where she was alert and awake, officials said.

Nobody else was found in the house. Almost three dozen firefighters responded to the house, and they extinguished the blaze in about five minutes, Church said.

The fire marshal is conducting an investigation to determine what caused the fire.

“For some of our firefighters, this is the first time they’ve seen anything like this,” Church said, referring to the dead children. “It never gets easier.”