VICTORIA, Mo. - It sounded like a bad joke. Brent Hawley, according to neighbors, initially brushed aside the call informing him the bungalow he shared with his family was aflame.

Elizabeth Baynes had just phoned a nearby mobile home where her son, Hawley and friends had gathered on New Year's Eve. Baynes assured the group she wasn't joking.

And then they heard an explosion.

They arrived at the scene moments later to find the home engulfed in flames.

Brent's mother, Deena Manning, severely burned, was at a neighbor's home, waiting for the emergency helicopter that would soon whisk her to St. John's Mercy Medical Center.

Her husband, James Manning, who turned back for his two young children when he and his wife evacuated, died in the flames.

The children Manning tried to save, 11-year-old Austin and 7-year-old Cari, were gone, too.

"It's the worst fire I've ever been involved in, especially because there were children," said Jefferson County sheriff's Sgt. Gary Higginbotham.

The sound of Deena Manning banging on his door awoke neighbor Joe Edmonds, 45, at 4:45 a.m.

Edmonds said he went immediately to the Manning home, but his attempts to open a door where thwarted by the intensity of the blaze.

"I ran over there to see if I could help, but it was too late," he said.

Firefighters found the bodies of James Manning - who earned his living by inspecting fire alarm and security systems - and the children near a window at the rear of the house, about 25 feet from the front door. It appeared they were seeking an alternative to the front door as an escape route, said Jefferson County Sheriff Glenn Boyer.

Paul Mayer, chief of the De Soto Rural Fire Protection District, said the two explosions heard by neighbors were probably the combustion of a pressurized well tank and a barbecue propane tank.

Investigators were trying to determine whether the flames set off the tanks or the explosions set ignited the fire.

As he left the scene shortly after noon Thursday, investigator Rodger Windle of the Missouri fire marshal's office said the inquiry into the cause will continue today.

The three deaths in tiny Victoria, a crossroads town near De Soto in unincorporated Jefferson County, brought to four the number of fire-related fatalities in the region in the opening hours of the new year.

Earlier Thursday morning, state fire officials said, Marty Drennen Jr., in his mid-20s, was killed in a mobile home fire near the Potosi Correctional Center in Washington County.

That blaze, like the fire in Victoria, remained under investigation.

'Like a bonfire'

Residents of Victoria who weren't jarred by the explosions were shaken from sleep by the ensuing commotion as firefighters hurried to the home on Highway P.

John Stafford, who lives across the street from the Manning home, went straight to a window after hearing an explosion.

"It was like a bonfire," he said. "I was hoping there was no one in there."

The heat and explosions obliterated the house to the extent that investigators had difficulty determining the layout of the residence.

James Manning, 39, was known as the coach of his son Austin's Little League team and a diligent father.

"They were an all-American, baseball, small-town family," said Jennifer Jones, a friend from Hillsboro.

Chris Byrd, president of the Hillsboro Little League, characterized Manning as a "laid-back" coach who rarely got flustered and distinguished himself by being "good with kids."

"He taught them to enjoy themselves, and he taught them how to play the game," Byrd said. "He made it fun while at the same time teaching them."

Byrd said his "heart just sunk" when he heard the news of the fire.

"He was a good guy," Byrd said. "People of that nature, that are willing to take time out during the summer to be not only with their kids, but with everybody else's kids, it's a big thing to me."

Manning worked for the last 10 years at Tech Electronics, a local communications company. He started inspecting fire alarm systems and was later promoted to service technician, which required him to service and maintain fire and security systems. Manning received a 10-year service award just last month, at a company holiday party.

"We'll miss him," said Kurt Canova, president of Tech Electronics. "James was one of those employees - he knew what he needed to do and he stayed focused on that."

On Thursday, Brent Hawley, 20, kept vigil with family and friends near his mother at St. John's Mercy Medical Center.

"We would like to thank everyone for their prayers and concerns during this difficult time, but also ask for privacy," the family said in a statement issued by the medical center.

As of late Thursday afternoon, Deena Manning, 37, was listed in critical condition.

Residents of Victoria spent what they hoped would be a quiet holiday trying to make sense of what occurred there before the sun's first appearance of 2009.

"It's awful when you don't know them," Baynes said. "It's even worse when you do."