N.C. Fire Survivor: "I Woke Up To Screams"; Two Die in Early A.M. Fire

RUTHERFORD COUNTY, N.C. --

Two people were killed in a house fire in Rutherford County.

Firefighters were called to the house on Duncan's Creek Road around 3:15 a.m.Wednesday.

Rutherford County Fire Marshal Roger Hollifield said when firefighters arrived at the scene the house was fully engulfed in flames and the roof had already collapsed. He said it was an older house with a heavy wood frame.

Hollifield told News 4's Myra Ruiz that three people were in the home when it caught fire, but five people normally live there.

Oscar Ramirez survived the blaze. He said he had to jump out of a window to escape. He told Ruiz the only reason he woke up was because he heard one of the victims calling for help.

"I heard the boy call 'Mama.' That's the only thing that woke me up, when he said 'Mama.' He screamed. If he don't say that, I'm gone," Ramirez said.

Ramirez said he went down the street to ask neighbors for help. He said he knocked on the door but no one answered.

"Go down there and knock on the door but nobody show up. Three is when people sleep tight, real tight. Between 3 and 6 (a.m.) right? Nobody show up. Knock on the door and scream and nobody show up," Ramirez said.

Ramirez said sometime after he returned to the house the other two people who lived there returned home and called 911.

Officials have not released any information on the victims.

"It's certainly tragic anytime there's a life lost regardless of what time of the year it is, but, certainly, around the holidays, it's hard on the responders as well as the family," Hollifield said.

Hollifield said one of the victim's relatives was so distraught after leaving the scene that she jumped out of a moving vehicle at an intersection miles away.

Investigators do not believe the woman was seriously hurt.

As is routine when a fire fatality is reported, the State Bureau of Investigation has been called to investigate. But investigators said the fire was so destructive it will be difficult to determine the origin and cause of the fire.