PORTSMOUTH, Ohio (AP) — An early morning fire damaged a home in southern Ohio and left four people dead Friday, officials said.

Three adults and a child were found inside the smoke-damaged home in the city’s downtown, Fire Chief Bill Raison said. The four were taken to Southern Ohio Medical Center, where they were pronounced dead.

Their victims’ names were not being released until relatives could be notified, Raison said.

Investigators were on the scene Friday, trying to determine what started the fire. A spokesman for the state fire marshal said investigators determined that the fire started on the first floor of the two-story, single-family home.

The house had no working smoke detector, spokesman Matt Mullins said.

Police officers patrolling the city’s east end said they smelled the smoke.

“They could smell it but couldn’t see it, couldn’t tell where it was coming from,” Raison said. “At some point during the course of that, the fire actually broke out a window of the house. And then, they called and notified us.”

Portsmouth is about 85 miles south of Columbus.

 

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