The Christmas morning fire in Stamford, Conn. that took the lives of five people, including three young girls who attended school in Westchester County, may have been sparked by embers from a fireplace, officials announced today.

The mayor of Stamford says foul play has been ruled out. He would only describe the cause as fireplace embers that were not burned out and tossed into a mudroom.

According to investigators, the girls' mother climbed out of a window onto a flat roof and was screaming for her children, trying to tell firefighters which windows were her kids' bedrooms. However, the girls never made it out of their burning home on Shippan Avenue.

The girls' mother, New York advertising executive Madonna Badger, and a male acquaintance, were able to escape. Badger's parents, who were visiting for the holiday, perished in the fire.

Officials say firefighters made repeated attempts to save the trapped victims, but were pushed back by the heat and intensity of the flames.

The grandfather who died in the fire worked as a safety chief at a company in Kentucky.