SPRINGFIELD, Tenn. (WKRN) – Four children were killed and two other people were injured in a Springfield house fire early Monday morning.

It happened on Poplar Avenue, between Perry Drive and Smith Street, around 3:30 a.m.

Upon their arrival, a woman alerted crews that there were people still inside the burning home.

Crews immediately began searching for the victims and working to knock down the fire.

Springfield Fire Chief Jimmy Hamill says four children, between the ages of 4 and 9 years old, were killed. A man and an 8-year-old girl were also taken to Vanderbilt University Medical Center. The man was critically injured, Hamill said. The girl’s condition was unknown.

“It’s devastating,” Hamill said. “This is the worst one I have ever been on with this many fatalities. It’s just terrible.”

A woman and two other children escaped.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.