Area 2 House Fire 1/16/2008   An early morning fire in Pinch has left four people dead, Kanawha County emergency officials said.  Officials said preliminary investigations showed an early morning house fire might have been caused by an electrical malfunction, possibly in a heating system. .. The fire happened along Cemetery Hill Drive about 7:28 a.m., according to Metro 911. Pinch Volunteer Fire Chief Sonny Wagoner confirmed four deaths today. Neighbors said two adults and three children lived in the house, but it was believed the oldest daughter was in school at the time of the blaze. Wagoner said some members of the family were huddled together inside the home. Kanawha County Emergency Services Director Dale Petry was not ready to provide the names of the victims. "We don't know the names or the whole story yet," Petry said. Petry said the fire was out around 9 a.m. and that the house was virtually destroyed. By 9:30 a.m., the structure was still smoldering and officials were combing the area, Petry said. Three volunteer fire departments, including Pinch, Malden and Clendenin units, responded to the fire. The Kanawha County Sheriff's department, State Police, the Kanawha County ambulance authority and the state fire marshal's office also reported to the scene. Elizabeth Hayes is a neighbor. She said an unmarried couple lived in the one-and-a-half story house with their three children, -- an 11-year-old girl, a boy about 4 and another girl only a couple of years old. Hayes, 43, said the 4-year-old "was such a sweet little boy. He was always bringing me flowers." The 13-year-old girl goes to Elkview Middle School, and that was where she was this morning when the fire broke out about 7:30, Hayes said. She and the younger brother had just started taking a bus to Mt. Pleasant Church. The parents are just like their children - lovable, she said. "They were very kind and helpful," Hayes said. The man "would come up here and fix my lawnmower." The mother stayed home with the two younger children, and the man worked odd jobs, Hayes said. The family rented the house and had lived there about five years, said Marshall Crowder, a neighbor who lives two houses from the family. He didn't know the family well. He woke up this morning to the sound of ambulances and fire trucks outside. The scene in front of the house this morning was chaotic, Crowder said. "There's a lot of people in front of the house," he said. "They're just waiting to see if they can locate anybody inside the house."