Police: 3 die in house fire in southwestern Wis.
ARGYLE, Wis. (AP) — A house fire killed three people and critically injured another in southwestern Wisconsin early Friday, police said.
Firefighters were called to the house in Argyle just after 3 a.m. Friday, police said. Three people died, another person was in the hospital in critical condition, and two others were treated and released, police said.
Authorities did not release names or ages of the victims.
The owner of the house, Tom Zwicker of Monroe, told The Associated Press that he rented the home to a husband, wife and their four children, but he had no information about the fire victims.
“I’m as much in the dark as everybody else is,” Zwicker said.
Principal Nichole Schweitzer of Argyle’s pre-kindergarten through 12th grade school told the Wisconsin State Journal that “a tragedy” had occurred involving elementary school-age children. Schweitzer said counselors were at the school to help students and staff deal with the loss.
“Everyone here knows each other regardless of age or grade. What happens to one, happens to all. It’s a sad day for us,” Schweitzer told the newspaper.
Phone messages left for Schweitzer by the AP were not immediately returned Friday.
Argyle police asked the state fire marshal at the Wisconsin Department of Justice’s Division of Criminal Investigation to help investigate.
Argyle is 34 miles southwest of Madison.
