Five people suffered “varying degrees of burn injuries” while escaping a house fire in the 900 block of Duffy Street in Aberdeen early Thursday morning, according to a statement by Aberdeen Fire Department Battalion Chief Damon Lillybridge.

Three children, their ages given as 8, 6 and 3 by Aberdeen Police Lt. C.J. Chastain, and two adults were injured. A 20-year-old male and the 6- and 8-year-old children were later transferred to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle for further treatment, said Chastain.

Fire crews were called around 4 a.m. Thursday and found heavy fire and smoke coming from the windows and roof of the three-story wood-frame structure, according to Lillybridge.

A man at the scene who identified himself as the renter of the home said the fire started in the room in which his granddaughter was sleeping, on the third floor on the south side of the home. The fire spread rapidly but all seven inside were able to get out, he said. He said his daughter and three grandchildren did not live in the house but were visiting that night.

Neighbor Fawn Welch said she was first alerted to the fire about 4 a.m. when her dog started barking. She said she heard a loud noise followed by screams for help. She and other neighbors assisted the three children and their mother as aid arrived, said Welch.

The fire extended throughout the third floor and down a stairwell into the second floor kitchen, “causing extensive damage to the second and third stories of the structure,” according to Lillybridge. Smoke and fire damage to the structure was estimated at $268,000, said Lillybridge.

The cause of the fire is undetermined at this time, said Assistant Fire Chief Rich Malizia from the scene of the fire. Lillybridge said the fire is under investigation.

Fire crews were still on the scene putting at 10 a.m. Lillybridge said a total of 15 Aberdeen firefighters, Assistant Chief Malizia, Chief Tom Hubbard, and two Hoquiam firefighters with one command unit, three engines, one ladder truck and two medic units responded to the fire.

DAN HAMMOCK | GRAYS HARBOR NEWS GROUP Aberdeen Fire Department Assistant Chief Rich Malizia takes photos of where the house fire in the 900 block of Duffy Street Thursday morning was believed to have originated, in a third-story bedroom.

DAN HAMMOCK | GRAYS HARBOR NEWS GROUP The west side of the home in the 900 block of Duffy Street that burned early Thursday morning. Five of the seven occupants suffered burn injuries; one adult and two children were later transferred to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle for further treatment.

COURTESY DANNETTE HAGGERTY Firefighters tend to a house fire in the 900 block of Duffy Street in Aberdeen Thursday morning. Five of the seven occupants suffered varying degrees of burns. Two children and one adult were sent to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle for further treatment.

COURTESY DANNETTE HAGGERTY Firefighters tend to a house fire in the 900 block of Duffy Street in Aberdeen Thursday morning. Five of the seven occupants suffered varying degrees of burns. Two children and one adult were sent to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle for further treatment.