HOUSE FIRE KILLS CHILDREN, TEENS NEAR SAN JOSE.

Byline: Jean H. Lee Associated Press 

Nine people, including five children and three teens, died Saturday in a house blaze that firefighters had trouble reaching because of bars on the windows, burning cars and pit bull terriers, officials said.

Fire officials treated the area as a crime scene, and arson dogs sniffed through the charred home's remains in search of a cause. Officials speculated that the fire started in the home's carport and spread to the house.

Four people - some with serious injuries - were rescued, and at least one survivor escaped without help, said Capt. Harold Schapelhouman, a spokesman for the Menlo Park Fire District. Three firefighters also suffered minor injuries.

A neighbor said an elderly woman lived in the house with three daughters, a son and nine grandchildren, though officials said at least some of the grandchildren were visiting for the weekend.

``They were all in this yard yesterday, happy children riding their bikes and playing. That's so sad,'' said Ethel Brown, a longtime resident who lives two doors down from the burned house, where children's bikes remained in the front yard.

Firefighters were called at 6:09 a.m. to the two-alarm fire in the working-class neighborhood about 30 miles south of San Francisco, Schapelhouman said. The fire, which engulfed much of the small wood-frame house, was extinguished half an hour later.

Schapelhouman said the victims were found in hallways, bedrooms and closets in the one-story home.

``It's a very tragic scene,'' he said.

He said firefighters were hampered by two ``hyped up'' pit bulls in the back yard, bars on the windows and burning cars blocking a doorway and a carport.

Officials said police officers had been sent to the house in the past for family disturbance and assault calls.

As for survivors, Kenneth McKean, 36, was in critical but stable condition at Brookside Hospital in Richmond, according to Fawn McCloud, a nurse in the hospital's burn unit.

McKean, who suffered from burns and smoke inhalation, was being treated in the hospital's hyperbaric oxygenation chamber, the only smoke inhalation treatment unit of its kind in the region.

Theresa Cotton, 28, was in fair condition with third-degree burns covering her upper body, said Laurie Vaughan, a spokeswoman at Stanford Medical Center. She said Cotton would be stabilized and transferred to the burn unit at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose.

Also at Santa Clara Valley, a 9-year-old boy was being treated for smoke inhalation and burns, nursing supervisor Dallas Allen said. Officials said his condition was stable. And Allen said, ``he's doing well.''

Verna McKean, 78, was treated for respiratory problems at Stanford Medical Center and released, Vaughan said.

A Menlo Park fire spokesman said two firefighters suffered from minor burns and one from breathing problems.