A mother and her two young daughters died in an early morning house fire on Lee Highway.

Fire Department spokesman Bruce Garner said the house was occupied by two adults, their two children, and a nephew.

The father said his wife was awakened by her alarm clock, and, when she got up, she discovered a fire in the living room. She alerted her husband to the fire, and they decided to get out a bedroom window.

The father told firefighters that he got his nephew, wife and two children all together to a window in a back bedroom and busted out the window to get out.

When he climbed out the window and turned around to help them get out, the father said his wife and two children were gone.

His nephew told fire investigators that he heard the mother say she needed to get her phone and went to another bedroom. Her two daughters apparently followed her and never returned.

The nephew said he waited as long as he could, but it was getting too hot, so he followed his uncle out the window.

The Chattanooga Fire Department received the alarm at 4:56 a.m. and responded with several fire companies to 7120 Lee Highway. Battalion Chief Clay Ingle said a large portion of the house was engulfed in flames when the first firefighters arrived on the scene. While firefighters with Engine 8 pulled hoselines off and started fighting the fire, firefighters with Squad 3 rushed inside to search for the victims.

Lieutenant David Tallent said the smoke was too dense to see anything, so they used their thermal imaging camera and found three victims in a back bedroom. Lt. Tallent said the mother was found on the floor, and the two children were found on the bed. The firefighters quickly carried the children out of the house, and administered CPR, but it was clear to the firefighters that it was too late to save the children, or the mother.

Fire investigators are trying to determine what started the fire. The family was renting the house. A smoke alarm was found in the house, but it could not be determined if it was working. The father said he did not recall hearing the smoke alarm when the fire was discovered.

The Chattanooga Police Department