FLORA, Ind. — Four sisters ages 4 to 13, asleep in their second floor bedrooms, died of smoke inhalation in an early-morning house fire Monday that seriously injured their mother and two first-responders, authorities said.

Police Chief Paul Redmon said the fire broke out in the two-story wooden home in this small central Indiana town about 3:40 a.m. It was not immediately known where the fire broke out in the home or what caused it.

Redmond said the mother’s bedroom was on the first floor. He said she apparently tried to rescue the children before the intensity of the smoke and heat caused her to run outside, screaming for help.

Angela Francis, an emergency medical technician who lives next door, said she was awakened by the mother’s wailing.

“I heard the mom outside yelling and screaming,”Francis said. “By the time I got over there, I was helping one of the ambulances with one of the (injured) officers.”

The victims were not immediately identified. Nor was the mother, who was airlifted to an Indianapolis hospital 60 miles south for treatment of smoke inhalation and other possible injuries.

Carroll County Sheriff’s Deputy Drew Yoder was the first responder on the scene, rushing into the home without ventilation equipment, Chief Redmon said.  Flora police officer Josh Disinger later pulled Yoder from the home after he became overwhelmed by smoke and intense heat, Redmond added.

Yoder was airlifted to a burn hospital in Fort Wayne for treatment of smoke inhalation and burns to his hands and face. Disinger was taken to a hospital in nearby Lafayette, Indiana, where he was reported in stable condition.

“That’s how our guys are,” Redmon told the Lafayette Journal & Courier newspaper. “They’re going to do whatever they can to help you out; they’ll worry about themselves later.”

Flora, a community of less than 3,000 residents, was shaken by the tragedy. All four sisters attended the local school. Carroll County Sheriff Tobe Leazenby told WLFI-TV in Lafayette the youngest was 4 and the oldest 13.

“You have all the classmates who knew them and the mother worked in in town,” said assistant Fire Chief Todd Trent.

Firefighters from five area departments responded to the house fire.

Derek Jackson, assistant chief of the volunteer Burlington Fire Department, said units on scene were still sifting through the debris of the house to determine where the fire started and its cause.

“It’s just a fire that happened at night, people were sleeping and didn’t wake up in time,” he said.

The Kokomo, Indiana Tribune and Associated Press contributed details to this story.