Three children died early Wednesday morning in a housefire, shortly after their father threatened to burn down the house.

New Orleans firefighters rushed to a single-family home just after midnight and were told three children were trapped inside, NOLA.com reported. They quickly found a 5-year-old girl and an 8-year-old boy near the front door, unconscious, police said.

Firefighters tried to resuscitate the pair before they were taken to a hospital, where they were pronounced dead.

A second alarm was issued at about 12:30 as firefighters battled to prevent the fire from spreading to nearby homes and to find the third child. The 3-year-old boy was eventually found near the center of the house and was pronounced dead on the scene.

Police said the children’s mother had called 911 just before midnight and reported that their father had threatened to burn the house down. She told dispatchers she was on her way to the house.

Police said the father, whose name has not been released, is a person of interest in the fire. Surveillance video from a neighbor’s house shows a person exit the house, get into a vehicle, and drive away as the flames rise from the rear, WVUE reported.

Police said they are investigating the deaths of all three children as homicides.

This is a developing story.

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[Featured image: WVUE screenshot]