SMITHFIELD — Short Creek Joint Fire District Chief Austin Raymond says investigators are working to determine the cause of a deadly house fire in Smithfield over the weekend but “it’s going to take a while.”

Three people — two of them school-aged children — were killed in the blaze, called in shortly after 3 p.m. Saturday.

“We got the first page around 3:09 p.m. Saturday for a structure fire with entrapment,” Raymond said. “Crews were on scene within minutes because we have a Smithfield station, but it was fully involved.”

The flames gutted the older, two-story frame structure, located at 146 Wood St. Raymond said crews made entry to the basement, where family members originally were believed to be sheltering, then moved to the first floor but “had to back out due to fire conditions” after discovering a part of the second floor had already collapsed.

“Every firefighter there knew they had a job and knew what it was,” Raymond said. “They (did everything they could), trying to get in and rescue the victims. Unfortunately, it was as bad a fire as could be. It was really, really hard.”

While the cause hasn’t been determined, he said the state fire marshal’s investigators have been “on scene and are investigating.”

“The investigation is ongoing,” he said. “We’re waiting for the official report when it’s done, but that’s probably going to take a while. It’s going to be an extensive investigation, they’re very thorough.”

Jefferson County Sheriff Fred Abdalla Jr. said family members of the victims had been notified but he declined to release the names.

Buckeye Local Junior/Senior High School held a community candlelight vigil for the victims Sunday night and had grief counselors on hand Monday in addition to their school counselors to assist students and staff affected by the tragedy, Junior High Principal Andy Long said.

He said there was a “strong turnout” for the service, adding that, “We’re grateful to the community for coming and supporting the family and students. It was meaningful and we appreciate their care and compassion.”

Raymond said transitioning from rescue to recovery was difficult for all involved, including firefighters, adding it was a “horrible” outcome.

“My thoughts and prayers are with family and friends, anybody affected by this,” he said. “And if you are affected, please reach out to somebody, talk to somebody. Serious things like this are hard for everybody involved.”

In addition to Short Creek JFD, he said firefighters from a host of area communities responded to the call, including Smithfield, Mount Pleasant, Dillonvale, Mingo Junction, Brilliant, Hopedale, Tiltonsville, Yorkville, Rayland, Unionport and New Alexandria. He said multiple departments from Belmont and Harrison counties were called in for tanker task force activation for water.

He said the below-freezing temperatures enveloping the valley Saturday definitely posed challenges, “but you couldn’t ask for a better group of people to be there, attempting to rescue victims.”

“It definitely takes a toll on you,” he added. “We had a critical incident stress debriefing Sunday at Brilliant Fire Department that we set up for all first responders — there was a big turnout for that. We’ll possibly do another one in the near future in case somebody couldn’t make it. We want them to know if they’re having trouble coping with this, they’re not alone: Everybody’s affected by it.”

He said firefighters remained at the scene until about 10:30 p.m.