GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — Authorities in North Carolina say three children under 5 are dead and their mother was taken to a hospital after a house fire. News outlets report that Greensboro Deputy Fire Chief Dwayne Church says firefighters called to a home on Grimsley Street around 8 a.m. Monday learned that there might be children inside and found fire coming from the windows and the front door.

It took firefighters about five minutes of battling the blaze to reach the children, but Church says the children were dead. He says the mother was taken to a hospital and was in stable condition. The cause of the fire is under investigation and the children’s bodies will be sent to the medical examiner’s office.