Pennsylvania ? A fire on Thursday in a house with inoperative smoke alarms killed five people, including three young children, in Honesdale in the Pocono Mountains.

Fire officials were called to the home shortly after 6 a.m. and quickly put out the blaze. But when they entered the house, the victims were already dead.

Officials said the batteries in the smoke alarms were dead.

A state police fire marshal was investigating the cause.

The victims were two women and the three children, two boys and a girl, officials said. A neighbor said the children ranged in age from 2 to 4.