State police identified the victims as 55-year-old Lugene Albright, who owned the home, her 31-year-old son, Jimmy Chistner and his 22-year-old girlfriend, Sarah Bottorff.

“Preliminarily, it seems like there was smoke inhalation but right now we’re conducting an autopsy. It appears that the victims were most likely sleeping when this fire took place. there was also several animals,” said Trooper Steve Limani from Pennsylvania State Police.

Investigators responded to the house along Maple Valley Road around 2:30 a.m. Monday. Firefighters from Meyersdale, Garrett, Salisbury and Berlin were on the scene for hours putting out the flames. They said the location, time of night and the type of structure made fighting the fire difficult.

“There’s a lot of things that go into being able to save somebody and prevent a fire from spreading, so know unfortunately there was a couple of things going against us,” Trooper Limani said.

Firefighters also said more than ten pets died in the fire. The house is a total loss.

Nancy Bucy lives nearby. She said she knew Albright and what happened is a tragedy.

“I really didn’t know if it was her house or not. So I walked down the hill where I could look over the hill. I looked down over the hill and I was amazed it was her house and it really shocked me, it really did. Because they were just people that were just trying to make it, you know?” Bucy said.

“It’s horrible. it’s a horrible tragedy for that community. our condolences go out to the family and the people involved,” said Trooper Limani.

State police are still investigating what caused this deadly fire.