SPOKANE, Wash. — Neighbors saw the flames and heard the screams.
Spokane Fire Department personnel discovered the grisly and emotional scene.
A 3-year-old boy who died in a fire Friday was found huddled with his dog and teddy bear by his side.
"They died together," Brian Schaeffer, the department's assistant fire chief, told The Spokesman-Review.
Two adults in the home were able to rescue three other children from the conflagration. Neighbors pulled a water hose across the street to try to suppress the flames. The fire was so hot it melted the metal frame on the boy's bed.
"It melted everything," Schaeffer said. "There was no way to survive that."
The smoke detector at the home did not have a battery, fire officials said. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
Spokane police are investigating the child's death.