MCGAHEYSVILLE, Va. (AP) -- A pre-dawn fire leveled a two-story farmhouse in northwestern Virginia on Friday, killing three adults and two children.
Two people escaped, including homeowner Lawrence Knight Sr., 63, who said he barely made it out of the smoky, engulfed downstairs after being awakened by someone screaming: ``Get up! Get up! Get up! The house is on fire! The house is on fire!''
The blaze broke out around 4 a.m. and was beyond control when firefighters arrived about 15 minutes later, Rockingham County Fire Chief Robbie Symons said. The cause of the fire was not immediately known.
The dead were identified as Dustyn Reedy, 9; Skylar Simmons, 6 months; their grandmother, Mary Jo Reedy, 57; Michael Simmons, 34; and Vicky Reedy, his girlfriend, whose age was not immediately available. Simmons was Skylar Simmons' father.
Once outside, Knight said he heard Dustyn screaming and tried to make it back inside, but the effects of a stroke and other health ailments prevented him.
``I could hear him hollering, `Papa, Papa, please come get me. Please save me,''' Knight said while nursing burns outside his smoldering home.
``I wish God would have put enough breath in me to save him,'' he said.
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