5 Children Among 7 Dead in Ohio Apartment Fire

HAMILTON, Ohio — Fire broke out early today in two apartments above a used furniture store, killing seven people, including five children ranging in age from 2 to 6, authorities said.

Six victims--one woman and all five children--were found beneath a boarded-up window, Hamilton Fire Chief Don Lickert said.

The seventh victim, a man, was found in a second-floor hallway, Lickert said. Three adults were injured.

In addition, he said, the three-story, wooden-frame building in a low-income section of the city, about 20 miles north of Cincinnati, had no fire escapes, and a door on the ground-floor that was the exit for the two apartments was locked on the outside, apparently by residents who reached through a window to lock it at night for security.

Fire officials said they found one smoke detector that had no batteries.

The victims were identified as Faye Dunham Reeseman and her 2-year-old son Christopher; Lee Cooper, 30; Mary Smith, 6; Jennifer Miller, 4, and twins Wesley and James Miller, 2.