Fire Kills Four Children In Oregon

The bodies of four children were found Sunday in the rubble of a wooden home that was destroyed by fire.

Three of the children lived in the house with their mother, and the fourth was a neighbor who was spending the night. The children were in the care of a baby sitter, who jumped to safety from the second floor.

Investigators said all four bodies were found in a bathroom near a door.

The baby sitter, Debbie Gibbons, 30, told authorities she was upstairs when she heard yelling. She tried to go back down the stairs but was driven back by smoke and flames.

Gibbons was in fair condition at a hospital Sunday with cuts and burns.

The cause of the fire was under investigation.

Bill Stine, who tried to help find the children, said the house was destroyed within 15 minutes.

“I got in there and I couldn’t even find the stairway, the smoke was so thick,” Stine said.

The children were identified as Jennifer Elder, 7, her brothers Nicholas, 4, and Aaron, 3, and Elizabeth Gigstad, 6.