BELLEVILLE, Ill. — Three people died after a house fire in the Metro East. Firefighters responded to the scene Monday morning just west of downtown Belleville.
Belleville Fire Chief Stephanie Mills said the fire started at a home near the intersection of South 13th and West Lincoln streets just before 5:30 a.m. The second-alarm fire left three men dead.
Firefighters pulled two men out of the home Monday morning. Hours later, a cadaver dog found a third man.
"Because of the structural instability of the house, so we thought we would use that resource to help narrow down where that person might be," said Mills.
St. Clair County Coroner Calvin Dye Sr. identified the victims as 79-year-old George Pappas, 39-year-old Pioquinto Pappas and 20-year-old Christopher Ellis. All three men lived at the home, Dye said.
One neighbor told 5 On Your Side that George and Pioquinto were father and son.
The heat from the fire was so intense, it prevented other neighbors who were trying to help, including Danny Depper, who lives a few houses away.
"I could see the glow and I turned around, went back in the house to get dressed to try to help whoever I could help, but it was just going. There was nothing I could do, by the time I got back out here it was engulfed," Depper said.
Depper said he knew the family well. He said his friend lost his father and brother in this tragedy.
"They're good people. The youngest one, George and I have been friends forever. We've all lived here for 40 years. That's a good family. And it's sad what happened. The main thing now is to be there for George and his mom. My house is open to them if they need someplace to go; that's what we're supposed to do," said Depper.
Three other family members made it out of the home safely.
Video from the scene showed flames and smoke still coming from the home and the siding on a neighboring home melted from the heat of the fire.
Brian Smith lives next door the house and said the fire melted the siding of his home and busted out the windows where his children sleep.
"It was pretty scary because it was bright inside. The windows facing the fire were almost like two sunsets in your window early in the morning. It was pretty bright and you can feel the heat inside the house. You can feel the heat radiating through the window, and it melted my blinds that were sitting in the windows," said Smith.
Smith said his family has a stranger to thank for alerting them to the fire.
"I didn't realize that the fire was on the other side of the wall. My wife came to our front door because somebody was knocking and banging on our door. It was a random stranger, and we saw on our doorbell camera that somebody was trying to get our attention, so my wife came out here, saw the fire, and came back in and grabbed our kids that were upstairs close to the fire," he said.
Fire investigators say most of the damage was on the first floor, towards the back, where the kitchen once was.
Officials are still investigating what caused the fire.
GoFundMe fundraisers were set up to support the Pappas family and the Ellis family.