A 4-year-old boy died and an older child was rushed to the hospital early Friday morning after fire broke out in a residence on Erie’s east side.
Erie Bureau of Fire crews who entered the 1½-story house at 542 E. Fourth St. after the fire was reported shortly before 1 a.m. Friday found the boy on the second floor of the residence, said Capt. Thomas Cooper, an acting deputy chief for the city fire bureau. Another child, whom authorities said is an 11-year-old boy, was rescued from the house by bystanders, Cooper said.
A dog also died in the fire, said Don Sauer, the Erie Bureau of Fire’s chief fire investigator.
No adults were believed to have been inside the house at the time of the fire, according to city fire bureau officials.
The Erie Bureau of Fire and the Erie Bureau of Police are investigating the fire’s cause.
Two people who were sitting in a car parked on the street and talking started to see flames coming out of a front window on the residence and went over to the house and started screaming, Sauer said. The 11-year-old boy reportedly woke up to the screaming and tried to exit the room, and witnesses saw the boy’s hand coming out of a window, Sauer said.