7 Dead In W. Va. Apartment Fire

At least seven people, including a child, have been killed in a massive apartment building fire, and a team of firefighters was still searching the building Sunday morning as some residents remained unaccounted for, CBS affiliate WOWK reported.

Authorities said Sunday that they feared the death count could grow.

The fire is now considered to be under control, though some pockets of fire remain, particularly on the fifth floor.

The fire broke out in the 64-unit Emmons Jr. Apartments late Saturday. Huntington Fire Chief Greg Fuller said an estimated 100 people were inside the building when the fire broke out and that at least 14 people were injured.

Firefighters discovered three bodies on the building's top floor while fighting the blaze, and crews found four more bodies Sunday morning on that floor, Fuller said.

One firefighter was taken to St. Mary's Medical Center, suffering from smoke inhalation.

Two of the known victims were pronounced dead at the scene; a third died on the way to a local hospital. Four more victims were found inside the building Sunday morning.

Crews had not been able to search the fifth floor and sections of the fourth floor because of heavy smoke and fears about the building's structural stability.

A recon team finally was able to enter the building around 8 a.m., beginning a floor-by-floor, room-by-room search for additional pockets of fire and other potential victims.

"We have not been able to complete the search," Fuller said. He said some of the fifth floor was blocked because the building's roof and part of the floor collapsed.

Fuller said the building provides housing for city residents and Marshall University students.

Fuller called it the worst fire in nearly 50 years in the Ohio River city.

The fire was reported around 11 p.m. Saturday. City Fire Marshal David Bias said it could take days to determine the cause of the blaze that began in a second-floor unit. From that apartment, flames and smoke shot up utility access channels to the upper floors, Fuller said.

Resident Dreama Tackit said her family made it out safely.

"All I heard was people screaming, 'Get my baby out of here!'" Tackit said. "And then it was like, 'Run! Run! Run!'"

Patricia Betts said she arrived home to find smoke filling her apartment.

"My brother was in my apartment watching our kids and smoke started coming from the closet. They were outside in the hallway sitting on the steps when I got home," she said. "We opened the door and smoke was everywhere. Then my whole apartment just blew up."

Officials did not immediately release the victims' identities. Fuller said several of the bodies were sent to the state medical examiner's office in Charleston for identification.

It is the second major fire in downtown Huntington this week. Ratcliff Place, which was home to four businesses, was destroyed by fire Wednesday night. No injuries were reported in that blaze.