NEWTOWN, Conn. (AP) — A Newtown home destroyed by a fire this week was owned by a couple whose children survived the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings in December.

The News-Times of Danbury reports (http://bit.ly/ZsimWk ) that Wednesday afternoon’s fire left Hans and Audra Barth and their three children homeless. The American Red Cross has put them up in a hotel.

Two of their children attended Sandy Hook Elementary School, including a first-grader in teacher Kaitlin Roig’s classroom. Roig has been called a hero for barricading her students in a bathroom as the shooter killed 20 other first-graders and six educators.

Friends say the family lost everything in the fire, and their pet dog and several baby chickens died. St. Rose of Lima Church is taking donations.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

———

Information from: The News-Times, http://www.newstimes.com