3 adults, 2 kids die in Indiana mobile home blaze

SULPHUR, Ind. — Two children and three adults died in a mobile home fire in a remote rural area of southern Indiana early Thursday, and authorities are exploring the possibility that the blaze was sparked by a wood stove.

County Emergency Management Director Larry Allen said the fire, which was reported at 1 a.m., killed all the occupants of the mobile home near the small village of Sulphur, about 30 miles west of Louisville, Ky.

Crawford County Sheriff Tim Wilkerson told WDRB-TV (http://bit.ly/XRs05U ) that two half brothers and a girlfriend of one of the men died, along with the 8-year-old daughter of one of the brothers and the woman’s 3-year-old son.

Wilkerson gathered the victims’ relatives in a circle with a chaplain to deliver news of the tragedy.

A neighbor spotted the blaze and tried to rescue the residents, Allen said.

“He saw the flames but by the time he got to the house it was engulfed. He tried to get in but couldn’t because of the flames,” Allen said. “It’s really tragic — an 8-year-old and a 3-year-old, and three adults.”

He said the county coroner and members of the State Fire Marshal’s office were at the scene. Allen said fire officials believe a wood stove used to heat the home started the fire, but are still investigating.