The drama took place in Charly-sur-Marne, in the French department of Aisne. This has been reported by the police and fire brigade. The father of the composite family was taken to hospital with severe burns.
The children – five girls and two boys, four of whom are children from the mother’s first marriage – and their parents were sleeping on the second floor of the town house when the fire broke out. The fire service received a call from neighbors around 12:52 a.m. By morning the fire was extinguished.