KETTERING — The four people killed in a Kettering house fire this morning have been tentatively identified by the Montgomery County Coroner's office as Forrest Carroll, 76; Alicia Carroll-Mobley, 36; Shaun N. Mobley Jr., 4; and Jacob S. Mobley, 2 years old.
Forrest Carroll was found deceased outside of the home on Craig Drive while the other three victims were located inside once the blaze was extinguished.
A Kettering fire official said there was, "absolutely no hope," of rescuing anyone inside the home when fire crews arrived early this morning to intense heat and flames.
Three other occupants of the home escaped the fire, which damaged two neighboring homes. Officials said the survivors are one adult and two children. They are believed to be Alicia Carroll-Mobley's husband and two daughters.
Neighbors say a family of seven lived in the home, including four children, two parents and a grandfather.
Kari Basson, community relations coordinator for the Kettering City School District, said the district was contacted by a school resource officer with the Kettering Police Department and told some of their students were involved in the fire on Craig Drive. District officials have assembled crisis management teams at Indian Riffle School and Kettering Middle School.
Shaun Mobley Jr. was in the preschool program at Indian Riffle.
Basson said a third grader who survived the fire was also a student at Indian Riffle and an 8th grader who survived was a student at the middle school.
Staff at the middle school are trying to coordinate fund raising efforts for the family. A donation drive and GoFundMe.com account for the family have also been advertised on social media today.
A State Fire Marshal spokesman Michael Duchesne said one of the three people who escaped was injured but the extent of those injuries is unknown.
The home in the 1900 block of Craig Drive is completely destroyed, having collapsed into the basement. A home to the south also caught fire and suffered extensive damage, while the home to the north was damaged by heat from the flames.
When police first arrived on scene just before 4 a.m. the home was fully engulfed.
A man was outside the home and the responding police officer attempted to save him, but the intense heat prevented the officer from making it to the victim, Kettering Police Lt. Craig Moore said.
Police said they believe that man initially escaped the home unharmed but went back into the burning structure.
The victim was pronounced dead on the scene and the officer suffered minor injuries, Moore said. Officer J.P. Jung drove to the hospital for treatment of minor heat related injuries.
Two firefighters also suffered minor injuries while battling the blaze and were removed to the hospital.
Kettering Fire Battalion Chief Jon Durrenberg said that man was found in the driveway and the three additional victims were found inside the home.
"Where they were at the time of the fire is hard to determine because of the damage to the house," he said. "That's still under investigation."
The investigation into the cause of the fire has been turned over to the State Fire Marshal's office.
Emergency crews received a 911 call from neighbors around 3:50 a.m. reporting flames shooting from the home.
"Around 3:40 a.m. I heard somebody yelling, 'Is anybody in the house, is anybody in the house?'" said neighbor Larry Graf. "The flames were pretty intense...You could feel the heat from it."
Firefighters arrived and attempted to make entry into the residence, but were unable to because of the extent of the flames, Moore said.
Durrenberg said firefighters worked to remove the man found in the driveway and then concentrated their efforts on extinguishing the fire.
"There was absolutely no hope from the time the first crews arrived that anybody could be rescued," Durrenberg said.
