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UNITY, Maine (AP) -- As neighbors and family friends wept, the bodies of three 7-year-old triplets were pulled from the charred wreckage of their home.
Morning Sentinel, David Leaming, Via AP
Firefighters spray water on a fire that destroyed the home of Carmen and Kurt Fryer, Wednesday afternoon, Jan. 12, 2000 in Unity, Maine. Neighbors saved their two-year-old daughter Elizabeth
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Firefighters also were mourning the loss of a comrade who collapsed at the scene of the blaze and later died, said Stephen McCausland of the Maine Public Safety Department.
Robert M. Jones, 48, the Waldo County Sheriff, was pronounced dead at MaineGeneral Medical Center, a hospital spokesman said. Jones used to be chief of the Unity fire department.
Firefighter Mike Heath appeared shaken after learning of Jones' death, throwing down his helmet and coat. He was consoled by other firefighters and deputies.
``Right now, I'm not even thinking straight,'' said Dennis Turner, the town fire chief, who said he had known Jones since 1972.
The boys were identified as Josh, Marcus and Brydon Freyer. Carmen Freyer, 28, the boys' mother, was hospitalized in good condition after escaping with her 2-year-old daughter.
AP World Wide Photos/Pat Wellenbach
Members of the Fire Marshal's Office inspect the remains of a home in Unity, Maine, on Thursday, Jan. 13, 2000 where triplet boys and a firefighter perished in a fire late Wednesday. The seven-year olds' mother escaped with her young daughter. The cause of the fire remains under investigation but foul play has been ruled out.
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Neighbor Todd Converse helped save the daughter after hearing Freyer calling for help Wednesday afternoon. He ran into a smoke-filled, glass-enclosed porch in the back of the house.
``I saw two little feet and I grabbed her,'' he said. The diaper-clad child was covered with soot, he said. As rescuers led Freyer away, she looked back at her home and repeatedly screamed ``I love you.''
Two neighbors sobbed and held each other while watching the house burn: Danielle Creasy, who said she baby-sat the triplets, and family friend Tammy Knowlton.
Teachers from Unity Elementary School, where the triplets were enrolled in a special-education program, watched silently. Neighbors said the boys' father, Kurt Freyer, was out of state driving a tractor-trailer.
State fire marshals were expected to investigate the blaze.
The house was located on a residential side street off Route 139, near the center of this college and farming town, about 30 miles southwest of Bangor.
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