"It's a very sad day for us here in Peoria."
The reaction from Peoria County Coroner Johnna Ingersoll identifying three people, including two children, who died in a house fire early Saturday morning.
The victims are 34-year old Edward Gordon, his 5-year old son Eandre and his 4-year old daughter Emyrra.
"All died from the result of carbon monoxide intoxication due to inhaling smoke and soot from the house fire," explains Ingersoll.
Ingersoll said the amount of carbon monoxide in their blood was two to three times the amount considered to be fatal.
The upstairs of the house was fully engulfed in flames when fire fighters arrived around 3:10 Saturday morning. Peoria Fire Chief Kent Tomblin says crews entered the house try to put out the fire, but, "The flames were so intense they had a hard time making it to the rear of the house. The flames backed us out."
Tomblin continued, "When other companies arrived with a back-up line with more water and more fire fighters, that's when they did a search and rescue and found the victims."
Gordon and his daughter were found in an upstairs bedroom, his son in an upstairs hallway.
"This fire had such a head start before we got there that smoke started banking down, banking down, banking down," says Tomblin. "I guess we have to assume at some point someone starting waking up. But, by that time, they already had a lot of smoke inhalation...confusion sets in."
Tomblin says, so far, investigators have only found one smoke detector in the house, and it did not have a battery in it.
"Any loss of life is terrible," Tomblin says. "But in a fire fighter's point of view when we lose life because of smoke detectors, it's unacceptable. When we lose children's lives, it hits home a whole lot."
"We can't emphasize enough. Smoke detectors, smoke detectors, smoke detectors. A smoke detector always gives you a chance."
While Tomblin stops short of calling the blaze suspicious, the cause of the fire is still under investigation.
