reporter: neighbors began noticing smoke coming out of this house, used as a day care. chris reddingberg immediately tried to help. just went to the back door with two other neighbors, saw what we could, try to get any kids out because she was screaming there were kids inside. we couldn t get any out. reporter: he says the owner of jackie s day care, seen here in the red shirt and hat, pulled out two of the children, but the smoke just got too thick. they had to wait for firefighters. sandy sawyer witnessed the chaotic effort to save the babies. i ve never seen that before. the ambulance couldn t get through because of all the firetrucks. and the lady with the day care wasn t sure they had all the babies, so she was really distraught. reporter: in all, seven children were rescued, aged 18 months to 3 years, but not all survived. fire investigators say sorting out the facts will take some