Infant, 4 women killed in southern Ohio house fire

Firefighters work at the scene of a house fire that killed five people in Bartles, Ohio, on Monday. Seven other people were injured in the fire in rural southern Ohio.

PEDRO, Ohio — Authorities say a fire that swept through a family's 12-bedroom house in rural, southern Ohio has killed five people, including an 8-month-old boy.

As he sifted through the ashes, 20-year-old Kyle Whitmer said the former foster home was owned by his mother. He says they lived there with his girlfriend and her mother, his sister and her boyfriend, and friends who had fallen on hard times and members of their families.

The state fire marshal's office says the fire began early Monday in a central breezeway at the home in Elizabeth Township, near where Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia meet.

The fire's exact cause has not been determined.

Fire marshal's spokesman Shane Cartmill says the others who died were four adult women. Seven people were injured.