5 and 15-year-old die in house fire

CAPITAL HEIGHTS, Md. (WMAR) - 5-year-old Jade Buffaloe and her 15-year-old uncle are dead after a fire broke out in a home Wednesday afternoon.

The girls uncle, 15-year-old Ricky Cole also died in the fire. Her father, 24, was critically injured in the fire and is being treated at an area hospital.

Just after 4:30 p.m. Wednesday crews were called to the 6300 block of Carrington Court in Capital Heights for reports of people trapped in a fire.

Crews found the Buffaloe's father in the front yard with serious burns to his upper body, and he told them the location of the two children that were still in the house. Trapped upstairs, crews found the 5-year-old and her 15-year-old uncle.

The two children were rescued from the flames and taken to local hospitals for treatment. The father's mother, a 52-year-old female, came home shortly after crews arrived on the scene. She was taken to a local hospital suffering from emotional distress.

The cause of the fire has been deemed accidental. Officials say a window air conditioner unit was being powered through an extension cord with a power strip which overloaded the electrical component.