A 9-year-old girl suffered first- and second-degree burns over 40 percent of her body, said Nash County sheriff's Lt. Pat Joyner. She was being treated at UNC Hospitals burn center in Chapel Hill.
The names of the two victims were not released, pending notification of all family members, Joyner said. However, Hattie Miller of Tarboro said her granddaughter, Macee Alexis Jones, died in the fire.
Miller said Macee spent the night with relatives. ``When the two deputies told me what had happened, I didn't know what to do,'' Miller said. ``She went over to spend the night with her cousin. This is awful. It's awful.''
Investigators said the fire started around outlets in a room used as an office, but Joyner said they weren't ready to call it an electrical fire. Investigators said the blaze was accidental.
Authorities released the names of the owners of the house - Garland Langley and his wife, Cheryl - who were among five people who escaped the fire with minor injuries.
Joyner said Gerald Langley, 63, said a smoke detector alarm awakened him about 5:30 a.m. Monday.
``When he got up to investigate, he found fire rolling up one of the walls in the house,'' Joyner said. ``He grabbed a fire extinguisher, but it didn't do much good.
``So, then he started hollering for everybody to get out of the house. In the melee of the fire and trying to get everybody out, they couldn't get to (the 4-year-old).''
Cheryl Langley, who escaped through a back door, she broke a window to one of the three bedrooms where some people were trapped by the flames.
``She reached in and pulled some of them out,'' Joyner said. ``She was treated for smoke (inhalation) and cuts on her arms, where she was trying to get the kids out the window.''
The little girl's body was found in a bedroom.
A 10-year-old girl was treated at Nash General Hospital for smoke inhalation and a dog bite, he added. A 20-year-old woman also was treated for a dog bite.
``There was a dog in the house, and the dog got agitated because of the fire,'' Joyner said.
The 4-year-old's mother was not in the house at the time of the fire, and Joyner told her about the baby's death Monday morning.
``She wasn't taking it very well,'' Joyner added. ``It's a hard thing to tell somebody something like that.''
