11 Die in Delaware House Fire

OAK ORCHARD, Del. (AP) â€” Eleven family members were killed early Wednesday by a fire that filled their southern Delaware home with smoke, state police said. <br><br>The victims included five children

Wednesday, January 3rd 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

OAK ORCHARD, Del. (AP) â€” Eleven family members were killed early Wednesday by a fire that filled their southern Delaware home with smoke, state police said.

The victims included five children ranging in age from infant to 6, said their grandfather, William Wright.

Investigators from the state fire marshal's office had not yet determined the cause of the 3 a.m. blaze.

The first firefighters at the scene found ``extremely heavy'' smoke billowing from the eaves of the house, said Patrick Miller of the Indian River Fire Company.

The blaze gutted the house, said state police Cpl. Bruce Harris. However, the exterior bore little evidence of the destruction.

``If the windows were not broken, you would not be able to determine anything transpired here,'' Miller said from the scene.

Firefighters were unsure whether the rural house was occupied until they entered and found body after body, Miller said. Rescue workers tried unsuccessfully to revive several victims at the scene, officials said.

``I think any number of people is too many, but this is quite shocking,'' Harris said.

Wright said the victims included his daughter, 28-year-old Jacquelin Wright, the mother of the five children. Jacquelin's mother, Eltam Shelton, and her grandmother, Evelyn Shelton, also died, he said as he stood across the street from the house.

Identities of the other victims were not immediately available.

The white house sits across from a corn field, in a cluster of several homes near Indian River Bay, about 45 miles southeast of Dover, the state capital.

It was the second time in two months that fire killed a family in southern Delaware. In October, five family members, including four children, were killed in Broadkill Beach.

Old Orchard is about 45 miles southeast of Dover, the state capital.