Victims of morning house fire were homeless three days ago

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - A house fire at the 100 block of East Dewald Street broke out just before 8:30 a.m. on Friday.

Officials say the four adults and one child in the home are safe now. The family dog also escaped the fire.

The woman who lived at the home told NewsChannel 15 that her family had just moved into the house two days ago. Before that, the family said they were homeless three days ago. The home did not have the power turned on yet so they were burning candles inside.

The woman suspects that one of the candles caught a chair on fire.

Landscapers who were working on the house next door heard the residents on the roof and grabbed a ladder to help the family escape.

"I saw smoke coming up out of the house, so we ran over there and realized they couldn't get down, so we had a ladder over here in the shop, so we went over and got it, leaned it up against the house, and they came down, basically, it was a pretty quick process," said Zach Townsend, who helped rescue the family.

They said getting the two-year-old to safety was their first priority.

Dewald Street was temporarily closed between Calhoun Street and Harrison Street.