Five disabled residents of a care facility in the Monterey County city of Marina died in a fire late Saturday night, authorities said Sunday.
The two caregivers escaped from the single-story house, said Lt. Rick Janicki, of the Marina Police Department.
They were treated for smoke inhalation, as were three police officers and a firefighter.
A sixth disabled resident of the Mt. Carmel Adult Residential Facility also got out, but remained hospitalized late Sunday afternoon, Janicki said.
The names, ages and genders of the victims will be released Monday, after relatives had been contacted, he said.
The cause of the blaze was still being investigated, with assistance from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Fire and Explosives, Janicki said.
John DiCarlo, a retired sheriff’s deputy who lives down the street, said he heard the sirens just before midnight Saturday and came out to see what was going on.
“When I got there, the house was totally engulfed in flames,” DiCarlo said.
Firefighters were already on the scene. DiCarlo took a short video, but the “fire was so intense you couldn’t get that close,” he said.
It took at least 45 minutes to bring the fire under control.
Four of the deceased were found that night, while a fifth body was discovered in the debris on Sunday morning, Janicki said.
--Anna Gorman and Alan Zarembo
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