Two young boys died in an early morning house fire in Coeur d'Alene today. Investigators believe the brothers, ages 4 and 5, may have started the fire by playing with a lighter and paper. Police this morning did not release the names of the victims or of three adults who escaped the blaze unharmed. The boys' mother, her brother and her live-in boyfriend were asleep upstairs when the fire began in the basement, where the boys were, around 2 a.m., said Coeur d'Alene Police spokeswoman Sgt. Christie Wood said. Wood said police learned the boys had a history of playing with fire and had started one previous fire in the house, located at 15th Street and Birch Avenue on the east side of the city, near Lakes Middle School

Meghann Cuniff/Spokesman-Review.

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