Four lost their lives during an early morning fire in Dutchess County.

On Monday around 1:40 a.m., City of Poughkeepsie firefighters assisted by Arlington, Fairview, Mobile Life Paramedics and the City of Poughkeepsie Police Department responded to a fire at 61 Academy Street.

Firefighters arrived to find heavy smoke from the structure and encountered serious conditions in the interior as they attempted to search for any possible trapped victims and put out the fire.

Due to rapidly deteriorating fire conditions a decision was made to remove all firefighters from the building for their safety and battle the fire from the outside, officials say.

Once the fire was put out, firefighters searched the building and found four people dead inside.

ABC reports two of the victims are men, one a woman and officials aren't sure of the gender of the fourth victim as of this writing. Their names weren't released.

Officials believe the victims were homeless. The building was previously abandoned, boarded up and the power was cut to the building before the fire.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.

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