R.I. house fire kills baby girl, 4 other people

Among the dead were 21-year-old Amanda Villeneuve and her 7-month-old daughter, Annabelle, who lived in the single-family house owned by Villeneuve’s father, James Weeden, the warden of Rhode Island’s maximum-security prison.

Also killed in the fire at the Buttonwoods Drive home were 20-year-old Dan Janik of Woonsocket and 24-year-old Nicholas Jillson of North Smithfield. The name of the fifth victim, a 20-year-old woman, was not released.

Weeden and his wife were in Vermont at the time of the fire, and returned immediately. They could not be reached for comment last night.

“This is a real tragedy for the city of Warwick and the state of Rhode Island,’’ state Fire Marshal Jack Chartier said, adding that it is “made all the worse by the lack of working smoke detectors.’’

The other victims were said to be friends of Villeneuve. A sixth person, a man whom fire offi cials did not identify, called 911 around noon after a piece of debris from the second floor fell on him.

He was treated for smoke inhalation but was not seriously hurt. He told authorities that he went to bed at about 3 a.m., after a party in the house, and woke at about 7 a.m. but nothing was wrong. The fire might have started sometime in the morning and smoldered in the gap between floors of the two-story cape, officials said.

“Had there been working smoke alarms . . . I think the outcome would be different,’’ Warwick Fire Chief Kevin Sullivan said yesterday afternoon.

In the neighborhood last night, there were few visible signs of the tragedy at the small, yellow house.

“Other than the windows being broken by firefighters for ventilation, you would never know there was a fire,’’ said Warwick Fire Department Battalion Chief Bruce Cooley.

The victims were overcome by smoke as they slept and were unconscious when firefighters arrived. Some suffered severe burns, fire officials said. The adults were taken to Kent Hospital in Warwick and Rhode Island Hospital in Providence. Annabelle was rushed to Hasbro Children’s Hospital in Providence. None could be revived.

Chartier said the fire started in the space between the first and second floor and may have been caused by an electrical problem. Investigators said they believe the fire was an accident.

Cooley said it was the worst fatal fire in recent Warwick history and the worst in the area since the 2003 Station nightclub fire in West Warwick, which killed 100 people.

“I’ve never seen a fire with this many fatalities,’’ Sullivan said. “We just kept pulling people out one after the other. It was a very gruesome scene to see those people come out.’’

Fires like this, especially when a child is among the victims, can strike firefighters especially hard. Cooley said 30 firefighters who responded yesterday underwent a stress debriefing after the call and are subject to a process called Critical Incident Stress Management, which is meant to help firefighters and emergency workers cope with cumulative and sudden stress on the job.

One neighbor, who declined to give his name, said that Weeden had recently renovated part of the house. Others said that the area was especially tight-knit and that everyone on the block knew one another.

“It’s a tragedy,’’ said Linda Linphanit, 24.

“They’re just great people. Whenever there’s a snowstorm, the family would come to the aid of neighbors and help,’’ she said.

“The house across the street - a very elderly couple was living there, and they used to watch over them, and they would come down the street if anyone ever needed help,’’ Linphanit said.

Material from the Associated Press was included in this report. Globe correspondents Christopher J. Girard and Caitlin Castello contributed to this report. John M. Guilfoil can be reached at jguilfoil@globe.com.