5 hurt in fire at unlicensed day care

ALAMO, Tenn. - A fire yesterday injured three children and two adults at a day care center that had been shut down by Tennessee regulators, authorities said.

Among those hurt was an off-duty police officer who spotted the fire at Heavenly Angels day care, called for assistance, and helped rescue children from the building, Alamo Police Chief Gary Skipper told the Associated Press.

Two of the children and both adults were in good condition and the other child was in fair condition at Jackson-Madison County General Hospital, spokeswoman Kay Cranford said. She cited privacy laws in declining to release the names of the injured.

It wasn't immediately clear how many children were at the center outside Alamo, about 70 miles northeast of Memphis, when the fire broke out.

The day care center had been shut down by the state after a 10-month-old child died there Oct. 1, Tennessee Department of Human Services spokeswoman Michelle Mowery Johnson said.

The state medical examiner's office ruled the baby died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, Dr. Tony Emison said. No charges have been filed.

The center operators voluntarily suspended their license immediately after the death but "we learned they may be operating again," Johnson said.