Three children die in house fire

(Oklahoma City-AP) -- The medical examiner's office says three children left home alone died of smoke inhalation. The northwes tOklahoma City home where the children were sleeping together was gutted

Thursday, March 2nd 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

(Oklahoma City-AP) -- The medical examiner's office says three children left home alone died of smoke inhalation. The northwes tOklahoma City home where the children were sleeping together was gutted by an early morning fire shortly before 1 a-m this morning.

Lieutenant Brian Stanaland says firefighters found nine-year-old Roger Davis, 11-year-old Crystal Davis and 12-year-old William Davis in a bedroom and passed them out a window to waiting firefighters.

Cynthia Reid is a spokeswoman for Oklahoma City public schools. Reid says Roger was a fourth-grader at Eisenhower Elementary where Crystal was in the fifth grade. William was a sixth-grader at Hoover Middle School.

Reid says the school district initiated its after-care plan and counselors were at the schools to work with students. She says visitors were being kept off campus for the day.

A neighbor says the mother and stepfather returned to find the home ablaze and tried unsuccessfully to get inside to save the children. Stanaland says the cause of the fire and the amount of damage haven't been determined.