"Oh my God, what happened?"
Those were Crystal Smith's first thoughts when she got home from work Wednesday afternoon to find police had blocked off her street, then she say her neighbor's house at 309 Oddville Pike, up in flames.
"As I got out of my vehicle, I walked around the house and I saw that they were tearing boards out. I saw that the firefighters' suits were very black so I figured it was very bad."
The Cynthiana Fire Department says it responded to the house fire within minutes after receiving the call just after noon Wednesday and immediately evacuated the surrounding houses and called for back-up.
"The first units got here and said they have a fully involved structure, had victims inside. We struck a second alarm and had extra units come in and got the victims out of the house,"
One of those victims, a 5-year-old girl, was taken to Harrison Memorial Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The Harrison County Coroner has identified her as Jacqueline Chestnut. He says her father, Terry, and 4-year-old sister were flown to UK Medical Center. Fire Chief Jay Sanders says this tragedy is difficult for the entire department.
"We have structure fires but not of this magnitude. Anytime you have a fire, you have a chance of losing life but anytime you have a situation like this, it's hard for your personnel. We rely on each other quite a bit,"
And the entire community is praying for the family.
"I think it's a terrible tragedy. A 5-year-old losing it's life. It's scary. I know it would hurt me very much if I lost my own children. I just feel for the family and hope that everybody else is okay,"
A cause of the deadly fire still hasn't been determined.
