The Latest: Sheriff grateful deputy was pulled to safety

FLORA, Ind. – The Latest on an Indiana house fire that killed four children (all times local):

3:20 p.m.

A central Indiana sheriff is thanking a local police officer for saving a deputy who was overcome by smoke while trying to rescue four girls from a deadly house fire.

Carroll County Sheriff Tobe Leazenby (tohb LEHZ’-ehn-BEE’) says he’s grateful that Flora police officer Josh Disinger managed to pull deputy Drew Yoder from the burning house early Monday.

Yoder was the first to arrive at the house fire in Flora, about 60 miles north of Indianapolis. He was overcome by smoke and heat during an unsuccessful attempt to rescue the girls from the house’s second-story.

Leazenby says Yoder suffered smoke inhalation and burns but his prognosis looks good. The girls’ mother was also injured.

The sheriff says the youngsters’ deaths make it a sad day for Carroll County.

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11 a.m.

A northern Indiana fire official says a police officer and sheriff’s deputy who responded to a house fire that killed four children tried to rescue the youngsters but were driven back by the flames and smoke.

Assistant Chief Todd Trent of the Flora Fire Department says a Carroll County sheriff’s deputy and a Flora police officer entered the house about 3:40 a.m. Monday but couldn’t reach the children.

He says firefighters who arrived a short time later were able to remove the children from second-story bedrooms but could not revive them. He says all four children were girls and they apparently died from smoke inhalation. Their mother was found downstairs and was hospitalized due to smoke inhalation.

The officer and deputy who tried to rescue the children were also hospitalized.

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8:40 a.m.

A northern Indiana sheriff says a deputy who responded to a house fire that killed four children was airlifted to a hospital after suffering severe smoke inhalation and burns to his hands and forehead.

Carroll County Sheriff Tobe Leazenby tells WLFI-TV (http://bit.ly/2gaAKaj ) that Deputy Drew Yoder was flown by helicopter to a hospital burn unit in Fort Wayne, about 80 miles away. The sheriff says the next 48 to 72 hours will be crucial for Yoder’s recovery.

The station reports that Flora police officer Josh Disinger was also injured while responding to the fire in the town about 60 miles northwest of Indianapolis. He’s in stable condition at a Lafayette hospital.

Authorities say Monday morning’s fire killed four children and injured their mother.

Additional details were not immediately available.

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7:42 a.m.

Authorities say four children are dead and their mother and two law enforcement officers are injured following an early-morning house fire in Indiana.

The Indiana Department of Homeland Security says in a statement that the children’s mother was airlifted from the scene in Flora, about 60 miles northwest of Indianapolis, after the Monday fire.

The department says a Carrol County sheriff’s department officer and an officer from the Flora police department were injured, but details of their injuries or conditions haven’t been released. The Department of Homeland Security and the Indiana fire marshal are investigating.

Broadcasters report most of the damage appears to be on the first floor of the multi-story home. The cause of the fire wasn’t immediately known.